Psalms 39 (ASV)

Chapter Text

39:1 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.

39:2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred.

39:3 My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned: [Then] spake I with my tongue:

39:4 Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am.

39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days [as] handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. Selah

39:6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.

39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee.

39:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: Make me not the reproach of the foolish.

39:9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; Because thou didst it.

39:10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.

39:11 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

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

39:13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more. Psalm 40 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "transgressions", "said", "take", "heed", "ways", "tongue", "keep", and "mouth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "transgressions" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local ASV text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "transgressions" and "said" carries the first interpretive weight. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "transgressions" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.