< Psalms 39 >
1 TO THE OVERSEER. FOR JEDUTHUN. A PSALM OF DAVID. I have said, “I observe my ways, Against sinning with my tongue, I keep a curb for my mouth, While the wicked [is] before me.”
I said [to myself], “I will be careful not to sin by the things that I say [MTY]. I will not say anything [to complain] while wicked people are near to me [and can hear me].”
2 I was mute [with] silence, I kept silent from good, and my pain is excited.
[So] I was completely silent [DOU], and I did not [even] talk about things that were good, but it was useless, because I began to suffer even more.
3 My heart [is] hot within me, In my meditating the fire burns, I have spoken with my tongue.
I became very anxious/worried [IDM]. As I thought [about my troubles], I became more worried. Then [finally] I said [MTY],
4 “Cause me to know, O YHWH, my end, And the measure of my days—what it [is],” I know how frail I [am].
“Yahweh, show/tell me how long I will live. Tell me when I will die. Tell me how many years I will live!
5 Behold, You have made my days handbreadths, And my age [is] as nothing before You, Only, every man set up [is] all vanity. (Selah)
[It seems that] you have caused me to live only a short time; (my lifetime/all the time that I have lived) seems like nothing to you. The time that all we humans live is [as short as] [MET] a puff of wind.
6 Only, each habitually walks in an image, Only, [in] vain, they are disquieted, He heaps up and does not know who gathers them.
Then we disappear like a shadow does. It seems that all that we do is for nothing/useless. We [sometimes] get a lot of money, but we do not know who will get it [after we die].
7 And now, what have I expected? O Lord, my hope—it [is] of You.
So now, Yahweh, if I expect [RHQ] [to receive blessings from other people], I will be disappointed. You are the [only] one from whom I confidently expect [to receive blessings].
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions, Do not make me a reproach of the fool.
Save me from [being punished for] all the sins that I have committed. And do not allow foolish people to make fun of me.
9 I have been mute, I do not open my mouth, Because You have done [it].
I did not say anything [when you punished me], because [I knew that] you were the one who caused [me to suffer].
10 Turn aside Your stroke from off me, From the striving of Your hand I have been consumed.
But now, please stop punishing me! [If you do not do that], I am about to die because of the ways that you [SYN] have struck/afflicted me.
11 With reproofs against iniquity, You have corrected man, And dissolve his desirableness as a moth, Only, every man [is] vanity. (Selah)
When you rebuke someone and punish him for the sin that he has committed, you destroy the things that (he loves/are precious to him), like moths’ [larva] destroy clothing. Our lives [disappear like] a puff of wind.
12 Hear my prayer, O YHWH, And give ear [to] my cry, Do not be silent to my tear, For I [am] a sojourner with You, A settler like all my fathers.
Yahweh, listen to me while I pray; pay attention to me while I cry out to you. Help me while I am crying. I am here on the earth for only a short time, like all my ancestors.
13 Look from me, and I brighten up before I go and am not!
[Now] please leave me alone, [and do not punish me any more] in order that I may smile and be happy for a while before I die. [EUP, DOU]”