The Book of Psalms
Psalm 39
Psalm XXXIX · Vol. II, pp. 1010–1011
1 David's care not to offend with his tongue. 4 His reflections upon the shortness and vanity of human life, which led him to hope in God. 8 He prayeth for pardon and comfort before his death.
To the chief musician, even to aJeduthun, A psalm of David.
1 I said, bI will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle,1 while the wicked is before me.2
a 1 Ch.25.1;16.41. Ps.77. title.
b Pr.21.23. Ja.3.2-8; 1.19,26. Ps.141.3. Am.5.13. Col.4.5.
A.M. cir. 2983 or 2946. B.C. cir. 1021 or 1058.
1 Heb. a bridle or muzzle for my mouth.
2 It has been truly said that this is 'the most beautiful of all the elegies in the Psalter. The struggle depicted here is not a struggle with wicked men, but with the terrors of a mortal sickness, which to the men of those early times were so great, that even the bravest, who felt no fear before the attacks of the enemy, quailed before the fear of death.' But even the fear of death could not shake the psalmist's trust in God. Faith was triumphant. The psalmist by his divinely enlightened mind was made to see that his very chastisements were blessings, that all things tended to promote his spiritual and eternal welfare.—P.
2 Ic was dumb with silence;3 I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.4
c Ps.38.13,14. Je.20.9.
3 This is the silence described, Ps.38.13;32.3. Is.42.19,21.—C.
4 Heb. troubled.
4 LORD,e make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.6
5 Behold,g thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth[≈ 7.6 cm · 3 in], and mine age is as nothing before thee: hverily every man at his best state7 is altogether vanity. Selah.8
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show:9 surely they are disquieted in vain: ihe heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
9 Heb. an image, 1 Ch.29.15. Ep.4.17.
i Job 27.17. Ec.2.18,19,21,26;5.13-16. Hab.2.6-13. Lu.12.16-21.
9 In was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
n Le.10.3. Job 40.4,5. 1 Sa.3.18. 2 Sa.16.10. Da.4.35. ver.2.
10 Removeo thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow2 of thine hand.
o Job 9.34;13.21. Ps.25.16-18.
2 Heb. conflict.
11 When pthou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,3 thou makest his beauty to consumeq away4 like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
Notes
Ver. 1. I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. He who could, without vain self-confidence, make and keep this resolution, must be more than man. Man might pray to be so upheld, Christ alone could so resolve. C.
Ver. 4. This is a lesson the worldly mind is most unwilling to learn, partly through fear of death, and partly through fear of losing life's vain enjoyments. Our Lord learned it in answer to prayer, leaving us here also 'an example that we should follow his steps.' C.
Ver. 12. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus; over impenitent Jerusalem; and in the days of his flesh 'made supplication with strong crying and tears;' of these, because they must often have been by night and in secret, the Spirit, that searcheth the deep things both of God and man, here and elsewhere in the Psalms, makes discovery and gives the record. C.
Reflections.—Great watchfulness and circumspection are necessary to our walking aright in this wicked and ensnaring world. For careless hearts will make crooked ways; and next to the heart nothing is harder to guide than the tongue: but the stronger the temptation is, the stronger ought to be our resolution against it. We are very apt to run from one extreme to another. If we restrain our lips from evil, we are ready to neglect that speech which is with grace seasoned with salt. And when our mind, long in silence, ruminates upon sorrows and the instrumental causes of them, it galls its sores and aggravates its discontent. But there is great need to consider what death is, and how near it is; and that it is continually working in us: for vain and transient are men, with all their joys and honours, their griefs and fears, their toils and cares. And the more we see death and vanity stamped upon all things here, the more we ought to be weaned from them in our affections, and the more solicitous should we be in securing the ever-living, the substantial, and eternal Good. The more our lying refuges are swept away, the more reason we have to trust in and call on God, who never disappoints any. With holy resignation to his strokes, we must earnestly beg the forgiveness of the cause and the removal of the rod. We cannot impeach the equity of his judgments, nor withstand their force. But if they set us a weeping and praying, and render us weaned from this world, God, our friend and companion, will quickly give us relief. And by his grace he will ripen us for heaven before he give the mortal stroke.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.