Skip to the text

Psalms · Darby Translation

Psalm 39 Darby Translation

Leer en español
About Darby
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Very literal
  • 1890
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (1)
Darby Darby Translation
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 To the chief Musician, to 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 muzzle, while the wicked is before me.
1 For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin 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 from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
2 I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart burned within me; the fire was kindled in my musing: I spoke with my tongue,
3 My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:
4 Make me to know, Jehovah, mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: I shall know how frail I am.
4 “Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah.
5 Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
6 Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.
6 “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
7 And now, what wait I for, Lord? my hope is in thee.
7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; for thou hast done [it].
9 I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.
10 Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
11 When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely, every man is vanity. Selah.
11 When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; be not silent at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, like all my fathers.
12 “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.
13 Look away from me, and let me recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.
13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”
Cross references (13)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Proverbs 21:23; Psalm 141:3; James 1:26; Psalm 119:9; Micah 7:5–6
  2. 2 Matthew 27:12–14; Acts 4:20; Psalm 38:13–14; Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 7:6
  3. 3 Jeremiah 20:9; Luke 24:32; Ezekiel 3:14
  4. 4 Psalm 90:12; Psalm 103:14; Psalm 119:84; Job 14:13
  5. 5 Psalm 144:4; Psalm 89:47; Psalm 62:9; Psalm 90:9–10; Ecclesiastes 2:11
  6. 6 Luke 12:20–21; James 4:14; Ecclesiastes 2:26; Psalm 127:2; Ecclesiastes 12:13
  7. 7 Romans 15:13; Psalm 38:15; Psalm 119:81; Genesis 49:18; Psalm 119:166
  8. 8 Psalm 51:14; Psalm 44:13; Joel 2:17; Micah 7:19; Psalm 79:4
  9. 9 Job 2:10; 1 Samuel 3:18; Job 40:4–5; Daniel 4:35; 2 Samuel 16:10
  10. 10 Job 9:34; Job 13:21; Psalm 32:4; Psalm 25:16–17; Psalm 38:3–4
  11. 11 Job 13:28; Hebrews 12:6; Isaiah 50:9; Revelation 3:19; 1 Corinthians 11:30–32
  12. 12 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 11:13; 2 Kings 20:5; Leviticus 25:23; Psalm 116:3
  13. 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

Articles and answers on this site that cite Psalm 39.

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).

  1. Commentary Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Psalm XXXVIII)

    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)

  2. Quotes verse 39:11 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book VII, Chapters X–XV)

    … 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)

  3. Quotes verse 39:12 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily LXIV)

    "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)

  4. Quotes verse 39:5 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book XI, Chapters XXII–XXV)

    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)