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
To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1I said, “I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will bridle#39.1 Heb muzzle my mouth,
so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2I was dumb and silent,
I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse,
3my heart became hot within me.
As 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!
5Behold, thou hast made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in thy sight.
Surely every man stands as a mere breath! Selah
6Surely man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for naught are they in turmoil;
man heaps up, and knows not who will gather!
7“And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in thee.
8Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Make me not the scorn of the fool!
9I am dumb, I do not open my mouth;
for it is thou who hast done it.
10Remove thy stroke from me;
I am spent by the blows#39.10 Heb hostility of thy hand.
11When thou dost chasten man
with rebukes for sin,
thou dost consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely every man is a mere breath! Selah
12“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
hold not thy peace at my tears!
For I am thy passing guest,
a sojourner, like all my fathers.
13Look away from me, that I may know gladness,
before I depart and be no more!”
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