1 For the Chief Musician, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, That I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, While the wicked is before me. 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred. 3 My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned; [Then] spake I with my tongue: 4 Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days [as] handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. [Selah 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them. 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: Make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; Because thou didst it. 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: Surely every man is vanity. [Selah 12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, A sojourner, as all my fathers were. 13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more.
Psalms · American Standard Version (1901)
Psalm 39 American Standard Version (1901)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (13)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 21:23; Psalm 141:3; James 1:26; Psalm 119:9; Micah 7:5–6
- 2 Matthew 27:12–14; Acts 4:20; Psalm 38:13–14; Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 7:6
- 3 Jeremiah 20:9; Luke 24:32; Ezekiel 3:14
- 4 Psalm 90:12; Psalm 103:14; Psalm 119:84; Job 14:13
- 5 Psalm 144:4; Psalm 89:47; Psalm 62:9; Psalm 90:9–10; Ecclesiastes 2:11
- 6 Luke 12:20–21; James 4:14; Ecclesiastes 2:26; Psalm 127:2; Ecclesiastes 12:13
- 7 Romans 15:13; Psalm 38:15; Psalm 119:81; Genesis 49:18; Psalm 119:166
- 8 Psalm 51:14; Psalm 44:13; Joel 2:17; Micah 7:19; Psalm 79:4
- 9 Job 2:10; 1 Samuel 3:18; Job 40:4–5; Daniel 4:35; 2 Samuel 16:10
- 10 Job 9:34; Job 13:21; Psalm 32:4; Psalm 25:16–17; Psalm 38:3–4
- 11 Job 13:28; Hebrews 12:6; Isaiah 50:9; Revelation 3:19; 1 Corinthians 11:30–32
- 12 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 11:13; 2 Kings 20:5; Leviticus 25:23; Psalm 116:3
- 13 Job 14:5–6; Job 10:20–21; Job 14:10–12; Job 7:19; Genesis 5:24
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
What doth this recollection of the Sabbath mean? What is this Sabbath? For it is with groaning that he "calls it to recollection." You have both heard already when the Psalm was read, and you will now hear it when we shall go over it, how great is his groaning, his mourning, his tears, his misery.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… feed upon me; nor shall thou convert me, like the food of thy flesh, into thee, but thou shall be converted into me." And I learned that Thou for iniquity dost correct man, and Thou dost make my soul to consume away like a spider. And I said, "Is Truth, therefore, nothing because it is neither diffused through space, finite, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
"For I am a stranger," saith he, "and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." For this man, and all that are like him, let pass them that had sinned, and thought of those who had approved themselves.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
This is my hope; for this do I live, that I may contemplate the delights of the Lord. Behold, Thou hast made my days old, and they pass away, and in what manner I know not.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)