Psalms 39
39
A Cry for Help
For the Pure and Shining One
A song of praising by King David # 39 The Hebrew inscription includes the name Jeduthun, which can be translated “praising.”
1-2Here’s my life motto, the truth I live by:
I will guard my ways for all my days.
I will speak only what is right, guarding what I speak.
Like a watchman guards against an attack of the enemy,
I’ll guard and muzzle my mouth
when the wicked are around me.
I will remain silent and will not grumble
or speak out of my disappointment.
But the longer I’m silent, the more my pain grows worse!
3-4My heart burned with a fire within me,
and my thoughts eventually boiled over
until they finally came rolling out of my mouth:
“Lord, help me to know how fleeting my time on earth is.
Help me to know how limited is my life
and that I’m only here but for a moment more.
5What a brief # 39:5 Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “brief” in this verse is “a handbreadth,” or the span of a man’s hand. Our life’s duration is compared to a mere six-inch span! time you’ve given me to live!
Compared to you my lifetime is nothing at all!
Nothing more than a puff of air—I’m gone so swiftly.
So too are the grandest of men;
they are nothing but a fleeting shadow!”
Pause in his presence
6We live our lives like those living in shadows. # 39:6 Or “like phantoms going to and fro.”
All our activities and energies are spent for things that pass away.
We gather, we hoard, we cling to our things,
only to leave them all behind for who knows who.
7And now, God, # 39:7 The Aramaic is Maryah, the Aramaic form of YHWH or Lord Yahweh. I’m left with one conclusion:
my only hope is to hope in you alone!
8Save me from being overpowered by my sin;
don’t make me a disgrace before the degenerate.
9Lord, I’m left speechless and I have no excuse,
so I’ll not complain any longer.
Now I know you’re the one who is behind it all.
10But I can’t take it much longer.
Spare me these blows from your discipline-rod.
For if you are against me, I will waste away to nothing.
11No one endures when you rebuke and discipline us for our sins.
Like a cobweb is swept away with a wave of the hand,
you sweep away all that we once called dear.
How fleeting and frail our lives!
We’re nothing more than a puff of air.
Pause in his presence
12Lord, listen to all my tender cries.
Read my every tear, like liquid words that plead for your help.
I feel all alone at times, like a stranger to you,
passing through this life just like all those before me.
13Don’t let me die without restoring
joy and gladness to my soul.
May your frown over my failure
become a smile over my success.
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Psalms 39: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 39
39
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the leader: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1I said, “I will guard my ways
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2I was silent and still;
I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse,
3my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4“Lord, let me know my end,
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah
6Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
they heap up, and do not know who will gather.
7“And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.
8Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool.
9I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
10Remove your stroke from me;
I am worn down by the blows#39.10 Heb hostility of your hand.
11“You chastise mortals
in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
surely everyone is a mere breath. Selah
12“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not hold your peace at my tears.
For I am your passing guest,
an alien, like all my forebears.
13Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more.”
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.