Psalm 39

My hope is in thee; deliver me
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Text
Explanation
A penitential (in repentance) elegy asking how a good God can permit suffering.
.1 ¶ <<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. 
.2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
  1 - Not sin with my tongue See ja0302, jb0210.
  1 - Bridle Literally, "muzzle" as in de2504. Compare ja0302. The wrong words would assist the hostility of the wicked ps07315.
  2 - Dumb See ps03813.
.3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
 4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
  3 - Then spake I From here through v13 he unloads his feelings.
  4 - Frail As Job jb03.
.5 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. 
 6 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.
  5 - Handbreadth A short length – 1/6 cubit. Should be plural.
  5 - Age Hebrew cheled. Life expectancy. ps09004.
  6 - Disquieted in vain Wealth does not satisfy. ja0513.
  6 - Heapeth up jb2716, ec0218, ec0221.
 7 ¶ And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
  Hope is in thee A bright spot in the psalm.
  Passages linked to often have several verses.
 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 
 11 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.
  9 - Was dumb In v2.
  9 - Because thou didst it David thinks his sins have caused his problems. This may have been to some degree but he and we do not see the whole picture as God does.
  10 - Remove thy stroke We may pray like this but always submitting to the will of God 2co1208, lu2242. For "stroke" see on ps03811 where the Hebrew is translated "sore."
  11 - Moth See is5108, ho0512.
  11 - Selah Probably a pause in reading or an emphasis like "Amen."
.12 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.
.13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
  12 - Stranger Compare ge1513, ex0222. A "sojourner" is a temporary resident. See 1ch2915.
  13 - Spare me Literally "stop looking at me and treating me harshly." He wants to not be bothered blaming the Lord for his troubles.
  13 - Be no more Compare ps00605, jb1401. He expects or maybe hopes, to die. But consider the next psalm where David praises the Lord. See the first three verses ps04001-3.
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