King James Version
Psalms 39
13 verses with commentary
What Is the Measure of My Days?
To the chief Musician, even 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 bridle, while the wicked is before me. my mouth: Heb. a bridle, or, muzzle for my mouth
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> This psalm opens with David's resolution regarding speech control in the presence of the wicked. The verse reveals mature spiritual wisdom: sometimes silence is more godly than speech, particularly when speaking would cause the wicked to blaspheme ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **My tongue.**—To enter into the feeling of the poet we must remember the unrestrained way in which Orientals give way to grief. It was natural and becoming for him to “roar” (Psalm 38:8, &c.) out his indignation or his grief, to mutter (Psalm 1:2, &c) aloud his prayers, to speak out on every impulse. Now he determines to endure in silence and mutely bear the worst, rather than speak what may ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12-13. They are here distinctly pointed out, though by changing the person, a very common mode of speech, one is selected as a representative of wicked men generally. The military figures are of obvious meaning.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 39
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
--In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and oth...
Read full commentary →I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. stirred: Heb. troubled
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I was dumb with silence</strong> (<em>'illamti dūmiyyāh</em>, אִלַּמְתִּי דוּמִיָּה)—David employs two Hebrew words for silence, intensifying the image. <em>'Illēm</em> means mute, unable to speak, while <em>dūmiyyāh</em> suggests the silence of death or the grave (Psalm 94:17). This wasn't peaceful quiet but forced muteness, the silence of someone choking back words.<br><br><strong>I held...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Even from good.**—This interpretation, while following the LXX., Vulg., and most ancient versions, is suspicious, since the particle, rendered *from, *is not generally used in this sense after a verb expressing silence. Indeed there is only one instance which at all supports this rendering (1Kings 22:3, margin). Nor does the context require or even admit it. If the bright side of things had ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12-13. They are here distinctly pointed out, though by changing the person, a very common mode of speech, one is selected as a representative of wicked men generally. The military figures are of obvious meaning.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 39
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
--In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and oth...
Read full commentary →My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>My heart was hot within me</strong>—The Hebrew <em>ḥam-libbî bəqirbî</em> (חַם־לִבִּי בְקִרְבִּי) describes internal burning, the physical sensation of emotional turmoil. The <em>lēḇ</em> (heart) in Hebrew thought encompasses mind, will, and emotions—David's entire inner being was aflame. This wasn't anger primarily but the heat of suppressed grief and existential distress.<br><br><strong>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **The fire burned.**—The attempt at repression only makes the inward flame of feeling burn the more fiercely, till at last it is too much for the resolution that has been formed, and the passion of the heart breaks out in words. Like the modern poet, the Hebrew bard had felt
“Twere better not to breathe or speak
Than cry for strength, remaining weak,
And seem to find, but still to seek.”
“But ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14. The first clause expresses the general idea that wicked men labor to do evil, the others carry out the figure fully.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 39
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
--In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and oth...
Read full commentary →LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. how: or, what time I have here
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.</strong> After resolving to silence (verses 1-3), David breaks his silence with a prayer focused on mortality. This isn't suicidal despair but mature reflection on human finitude. David asks God to teach him the brevity and fragility of life—not so he'll despair but so he'll live wisely ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) Rhythmically and from every other reason the psalm onward from this verse must be treated as the utterance to which the poet’s feelings have at length driven him.
**How frail I am.**—This is to be preferred to the margin, which follows the LXX. and Vulg. The Hebrew word, from a root meaning to “leave off,” though in Isaiah 53:3 it means “forsaken,” here, as in Ezekiel 3:27, is active, and impl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15-16. 1Sa 18:17; 31:2 illustrate the statement whether alluded to or not. These verses are expository of Psa 7:14, showing how the devices of the wicked end in disappointment, falsifying their expectations.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 39
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
--In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and oth...
Read full commentary →Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. at: Heb. settled
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.</strong> This verse expands David's meditation on mortality, employing vivid metaphors to illustrate human life's brevity. The verse moves from personal (my days) to universal (every man), demonstrating that human frailty isn't David's un...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Handbreadth.**—Better, *some spans long. *The plural without the article having this indefinite sense.
**Mine age.**—Literally, *duration. *(See Psalm 17:14.) The LXX. and Vulg. have “substance.”
**Before thee.**—Since in God’s sight “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” “If nature is below any perception of time, God, at the other extremity of being, is above it...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15-16. 1Sa 18:17; 31:2 illustrate the statement whether alluded to or not. These verses are expository of Psa 7:14, showing how the devices of the wicked end in disappointment, falsifying their expectations.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 39
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
--In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and oth...
Read full commentary →Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. a vain: Heb. an image
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Surely every man walketh in a vain shew</strong>—The Hebrew <em>aḵ-bəṣelem yithallēḵ-'îsh</em> (אַךְ־בְּצֶלֶם יִתְהַלֶּךְ־אִישׁ) literally means "only in an image walks man." The word <em>ṣelem</em> (צֶלֶם, image/shadow) is the same used in Genesis 1:27 for humanity made in God's image, but here it suggests phantom or mere appearance. David's point is devastating: human life, for all its b...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Surely every man** **. . .**—Better, *only as a shadow walks a man. *A very commonplace of poetry, from the σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωποι of Pindar downwards. Thus Sophocles, “I see that we who live are nothing else but images and vain shadows;” Horace, “*Pulvis et umbra sumus; *Burke, “What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.”
The above rendering treats the preposition as the *beth essentiæ. ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. his righteousness--**(Psa 5:8). Thus illustrated in the defense of His servant and punishment of the wicked.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 39
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
--In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and oth...
Read full commentary →And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.</strong> After contemplating human frailty and life's brevity (verses 4-6), David reaches this psalm's theological turning point. The question 'what wait I for?' (<em>umah qivviti</em>, וּמָה־קִוִּיתִי) flows from previous verses' meditation on mortality. If life is so brief and human existence so fragile, what can provide hope? David's a...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **And now, Lord . . .**—“If such is man’s condition, what,” says the psalmist, “is my expectation?” We seem to hear the deep sigh with which the words are uttered; and we must remember that the poet can turn for comfort to no hope of immortality. That had not yet dawned. The thought of God’s mercy, and the hope of his own moral deliverance, these form the ground of his noble elevation above th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Deliver me from all my transgressions</strong>—Having confronted life's vanity (v. 6), David now identifies the core problem: sin. The Hebrew <em>pəshā'ay</em> (פְּשָׁעַי, transgressions) means willful rebellion, not mere mistakes. David pleads for <em>haṣṣîlênî</em> (הַצִּילֵנִי, deliver/rescue me) from rebellion's consequences. This shows spiritual maturity—recognizing that existential d...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) Here the psalmist recurs to his initial thought, but lets us see deeper down into his heart. It was no mere fancy that if he gave vent to his feelings the wicked might find cause for reproach; the cause was there in his own consciousness of transgression.
**The reproach of** **the foolish.**—Better, *The scorn of the fool. *(Comp. Psalm 22:6.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 8 Psa 8:1-9. Upon [or according to the] Gittith, probably means that the musical performance was directed to be according to a tune of that name; which, derived from Gath, a "wine-press," denotes a tune (used in connection with gathering the vintage) of a joyous character. All the Psalms to which this term is prefixed [Psa 8:1; 81:1; 84:1] are of such a character. The Psalmist gives vent to ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I was dumb, I opened not my mouth</strong>—This echoes verse 2 but with crucial difference. Earlier, David restrained speech in the presence of the wicked; now <em>'illamtî lō' 'ep̄taḥ-pî</em> (אִלַּמְתִּי לֹא אֶפְתַּח־פִּי, "I was mute, I did not open my mouth") expresses submission before God. The repetition emphasizes total silence—two verbs for the same action, creating rhetorical forc...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Thou **is emphatic. Kimchi well explains: “I could not complain of *man, *for it was *God’s *doing; I could not complain of *God, *for I was conscious of *my own *sin.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. So manifest are God's perfections, that by very weak instruments He conclusively sets forth His praise. Infants are not only wonderful illustrations of God's power and skill, in their physical constitution, instincts, and early developed intelligence, but also in their spontaneous admiration of God's works, by which they put to shame--**
**still--**or, silence men who rail and cavil agains...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. blow: Heb. conflict
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Remove thy stroke away from me</strong>—The Hebrew <em>nig'āṯeḵā</em> (נִגְעָתְךָ, thy stroke/plague) refers to a blow or affliction, often used of God's disciplinary judgments (Deuteronomy 17:8; 21:5). David doesn't demand removal as a right but pleads for it as mercy. The verb <em>hāsēr</em> (הָסֵר, remove) is imperative, yet the context (v. 9, "thou didst it") keeps it submissive rather...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Stroke.**—See Note to Psalm 38:11.
**Blow.**—Margin, “conflict.” A word only found here; from a root meaning *rough. *LXX. and Vulg. have “strength.”
Calvin’s last words are said to have been a reminiscence of this verse.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3-4. The allusion to the magnificence of the visible heavens is introduced for the purpose of illustrating God's condescension, who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of regard and recipient of favor.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →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. his: Heb. that which is to be desired in him to melt away
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity</strong>—The Hebrew construction <em>bəṯôḵāḥôṯ 'al-'āwōn 'îsh</em> (בְּתוֹכָחוֹת עַל־עָוֹן אִישׁ) shows God using <em>tôḵāḥāh</em> (rebuke/reproof) to address <em>'āwōn</em> (iniquity/guilt). This verse universalizes David's experience: all humanity faces divine correction for sin. The purpose isn't destruction but transformation—God as ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **When.**—This is unnecessary. *With judgments for sin Thou chastenest a man.*
**Rebukes.**—The word rendered “reproofs” in Psalm 38:14, where see Note.
**Beauty.**—Literally, *Something desirable. *(See margin.) *Thou, like a moth *(consuming a garment: see Pr. Bk. Version), *causest his desirable things to melt. *(*For *the image, singularly apt. and natural in a country where “changes of r...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3-4. The allusion to the magnificence of the visible heavens is introduced for the purpose of illustrating God's condescension, who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of regard and recipient of favor.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.</strong> This verse intensifies David's appeal through three escalating petitions: hear my prayer, give ear to my cry, and don't be silent at my tears. The progression from words (prayer) to sounds (cry) to silent tears reflects deepening...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **For** **I am** **a stranger.**—A reminiscence of Genesis 23:4, and adopted 1Peter 2:11 from the LXX. (See *New Testament Commentary, *and comp. Hebrews 11:13.) The psalmist, like the Apostle, applies Abraham’s words metaphorically to this earthly pilgrim age (comp. 1Chronicles 29:15), and pathetically asks why, when the tenure of life is so uncertain, God looks angrily on him? (For the pass...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-8. God has placed man next in dignity to angels, and but a little lower, and has crowned him with the empire of the world.
**glory and honour--**are the attributes of royal dignity (Psa 21:5; 45:3). The position assigned man is that described (Ge 1:26-28) as belonging to Adam, in his original condition, the terms employed in detailing the subjects of man's dominion corresponding with those the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O spare me, that I may recover strength</strong> (הָשַׁע מִמֶּנִּי וְאַבְלִיגָה, <em>hasha' mimmenni ve-avligah</em>)—<em>Sha'a</em> means gaze away, look away; <em>balag</em> means brighten up, be cheerful, recover. <strong>Before I go hence, and be no more</strong> (בְּטֶרֶם אֵלֵךְ וְאֵינֶנִּי, <em>be-terem elekh ve-einenni</em>)—<em>Terem</em> means before; <em>einenni</em> means I will...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Recover strength.**—Better, *Let me become cheerful, i.e., *look up with a glad look once more on my face, as the angry look fades from the Divine countenance.
**Before.**—Literally, *before I go, and am not. *All the words and phrases of this last verse occur in the Book of Job. (See Job 7:8; Job 7:19; Job 7:21; Job 14:6; Job 10:20-21.)
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-8. God has placed man next in dignity to angels, and but a little lower, and has crowned him with the empire of the world.
**glory and honour--**are the attributes of royal dignity (Psa 21:5; 45:3). The position assigned man is that described (Ge 1:26-28) as belonging to Adam, in his original condition, the terms employed in detailing the subjects of man's dominion corresponding with those the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a g...
Read full commentary →