Psalm 39 “How Can A Mortal Relate to the Immortal God?”

Translation & Sermon By Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 10 June 2018

Jedithun is a new name in the superscription of this Psalm. He was one of the songleaders at the tabernacle in David’s day, so I suspect Jedithun is the name of the “concertmaster/chief musician/music-choir director” who first led in the singing of this Psalm.

1 Chronicles 16:1 So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. 2 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD… 4 And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel… 41 and with them Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to the LORD, because His mercy endures forever; 42 and with them Heman and Jeduthun, to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers. (NKJ)
Later on at the end of David’s life, when he organized the priests in preparation for the building of the temple, he reaffirmed Jeduthun: 1 Chronicles 25:1-3 “David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals… 3 the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the LORD. (NKJ)
Easton’s Bible Dictionary notes that the name “Jedithun” means “one who praises” and suggests that “Ethan the son of Kushaiah” was the actual name of this guy by comparison with 1 Chronicles 15:17-19. Furthermore, it suggests “the words ‘upon Jeduthun’ [in the superscriptions of Psalms 62 and 77] probably denote a musical instrument; or… the style or tune invented or introduced by Jeduthun, or that the psalm was to be sung by his [family] choir.” (Psalms 62 and 77 use a different preposition with Jedithun’s name than the preposition we have here in Psalm 39, so I think Psalm 39 was uniquely “for” Jedithun himself.)

In this Psalm, David grapples with how a mortal – especially a sinner deserving God’s wrath – should relate to the immortal God.

Should I try to talk to Him or should I not?
Can I find out what He is doing or thinking, or is He silent?
Can I negotiate with Him, or do I just have to accept my fate from Him?
And what should my attitude be if I try to relate to Him?

David starts by making a personal resolution. He’s going to try to keep mum; that way he won’t be able to offend God by saying something dishonoring, and he won’t be able to damage God’s reputation around anybody else because he just isn’t saying anything.
V.1[1] I said, “I will keep my ways from sinning with my tongue; let me keep a muzzle against my mouth while yet an evil person is in my presence.”

Elsewhere, David wrote: “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Psalm 141:3, NASB)
This is commendable, because, as the Apostle James points out in the New Testament, sins of the tongue are particularly pesky: James 1:26 “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.” (NASB) And in chapter 3: “…the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:5-8, NKJV)
However, saying absolutely nothing is not God’s will. He made us to be communicators, so David’s testimony in the next verse is that it didn’t work:

V.2 I was shut up, motionless. I held my peace from good, yet my pain was stirred up.

Cf. Psalm 22:1-2 “My God, My God for what reason did You forsake me? My groaning words [come] from [being] far away from my salvation. My God, I call out daily – yet you do not answer, and nightly – yet there is no rest [KJV silent/NLT=relief] for me. But You are holy… (NAW)
Isaiah 6:5 And I said, "Woe to me!, For I am undone [verb form of dmh], for I am a man of unclean lips, and in the midst of a people of unclean lips I am dwelling, For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts!" (NAW)
The pain came from David’s sin and God’s chastening, as we will see in a moment.
Not communicating with God or other people is unhealthy. After all, God didn’t say, “Don’t talk to pagans,” He said, “Preach the Gospel,” and Col. 4:5 “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.” What opportunity? The opportunity to communicate good news about Jesus from God’s word!

V.3 My heart heated up inside me; as a result of my meditation, a fire burned. I spoke using my tongue, V.4 “Yahweh, make known to me my end and the length of my days, what it is. I would know how gone I am.

The word “it” in Hebrew is feminine, referring to the only feminine noun in the sentence, the word middat, translated “measure/extent/number/length.” “What IS the measurement in days of my life? That which can be measured then has an end to it.

Isaiah 2:22 “Stop [חדל] yourselves from the man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?” (NAW)
1 Peter 1:24 ^“…all the glory of man is like a flower of a plant. The plant withers, and its flower drops off…” (NAW)

In contrast to Christ who has no end, (Isaiah 9:7 Of His empire's increase and of peace there will be no end [קִצ]... ~NAW), we are finite.

We reach the end of certain spans of time and we see changes occur;

changes in family relationships, like an end to living with your parents
changes in vocation, like when your school days end and you have to work a real job,
changes in living situations, like when your rental lease comes to an end and you have to move.
then we reach the end of our life and that’s the “end” of our time on this earth.

· Job 6:11 “What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should endure? …. 14:1-5 Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain… Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with Thee, And his limits Thou hast set so that he cannot pass.”

We have limits; that is also a kind of “end” [קִצ] or “lack” [חדל]

We can only run so fast – nobody is going to break the one-minute mile in a footrace,
We can only have so many children – there will never be a woman who has given birth to 100 children,
We can only live so long – you’re never going to meet someone who is 200 years old.
David wants to know how much time is gone of what he’s got coming to him.

We are using up the limited time we have; we are “transient/fleeting/frail.” As a result, we sense that activity without an end-goal is wasted time. This is another kind of “end.” We need to have a sense of purpose to fill the time we have with meaningful activity.

Moses concluded in Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.”

V.5 Look, it is handbreadths that You gave my days to be, and my lifetime is like nothing in comparison with you. In fact, every man taking his stand is totally puny.” [Selah]

The grammatical construction of v.5 emphasizes the word “handbreaths,” picturing these little measurements - four fingers wide - being dispensed by God to man to make up man’s little world – a lifetime of something like 80 years that is vanishingly small compared to the infinite amount of time that God has been in existence!

Psalm 144:4 “Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.”
Eccl. 6:12 “For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?”

The second half of the verse pictures puny little people like a bunch of paper soldiers in front of a 7-year-old boy who has just set them up. And when the battle starts, he just blows on them and they all fall over because they’re as insubstantial and light as air. Their best state is vanity. We’re going to see that word הֶבֶל/vanity/mere breath/insubstantialness again in verses 6 & 11 because it is a key word to describe man in comparison to God.
Let me add, however, that human life is not vanity and worthless in-and-of-itself. God created human life and called it good and God invested mind-boggling amounts of time and love in caring for our human lives, so the value of human life is not what this passage is talking about; the point here is that human life is just very puny in comparison with God and therefore we should be respectful instead of arrogant around God.

V.6 In fact, it is with an image that man conducts himself; they make a roar that is just puny; he collects things but doesn’t know who will get them.

Three more reasons to be humble before God are brought out in v.6:
First, the Hebrew text says that humans conduct themselves betselem – literally “with an image.”

An image is a derived figure, not the original.
We were made in the image of God, which means we are derived from Him and we are not gods ourselves.
Furthermore, human beings often concern themselves with other things which are not substantial but further derivative in nature,

for instance, we spend so much time looking at pictures in the news, on sales sites, in advertisements, in movies, in books, on smartphones – all attention paid to things that are not real but only an image of something else or someone else who is real.
Or we seek to create an impression on someone else by the way we do our hair or the way we dress or the way we communicate our reputation and strengths, or the way our social media profile looks, and we obsess over creating an image for other people to show respect to. This is the “vain show” the KJV translated that word with.

Other translations render the word “shadow/phantom,” making it a synonym for the “vanity/mere breath/puniness” that was mentioned in the previous verse. We’re the shadow, but God is both the light and the solid body that cast the shadow. Compared with the original substantialness of God Himself, our existence is nothing to parade; He is the one who should get the glory.

The second Hebrew word in v.6 that gives another reason to be humble before God is repeated from v.5 – chebel/vain/puny/nothing.

This second phrase pictures a crowd roaring, and then it’s like the zoom lens is pulled back and you see that it’s actually just a small group of people, and they aren’t really that loud after all. Our grand schemes and great commotions, bustling about making an uproar, is really nothing more than a tempest in a tea-pot.
We humans aren’t even capable of accomplishing anything that is a big deal in God’s perspective. We can make all the noise we want, but it isn’t going to make much of eternal significance.
We can toss and turn on our beds and be anxious all night in “disquiet/turmoil,” and that doesn’t accomplish anything either.

The third reason to be humble before God at the end of v.6 is that we are not the final actors in history either.

Eccl. 2:18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me… 21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil… 4:8 There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, "And for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?" This too is vanity and it is a grievous task.
That also reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the farmer in Luke 12:20 who kept building bigger and bigger barns to store his stuff in "But God said to him, You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?”

So, for these three reasons, who we ARE (image-bearers, not God Himself), what we can DO (our efforts are vain and puny compared to God’s), and the fact that none of us are around for very long, we should be respectfully humble before God. The Apostle James put it this way:

James 1:10-11 “…let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.”

V.7 So now, what have I waited for, my Master, my hope? It is for You!

What are you looking forward to and dreaming of? Do you ever dream of Jesus coming back and making everything right? Do you ever hope maybe today will be the day, or are there other things you are hoping for more than you are hoping for Jesus?
Job 13:15 "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.”
David also wrote, “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.” (Psalm 130:5) and “How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Psalm 146:5)
This is our hope too in the NT: 1 Peter 1:21 “[you] through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
What is it we’re hoping He will do?

V.8 From all my transgressions rescue me; don’t put me in the situation of being the stigma of a fool.

David recognizes the bad position he is in: His transgressions of God’s law have put him in the position of being subject to God’s wrath and punishment and to being scorned and made fun of and treated like an outcast by foolish people who say there is no God and who merely judge by worldly success and appearances. David’s only hope is for God to “rescue/deliver” him from his “transgressions” by forgiving him and showing lovingkindness to him so that not only will his soul be saved, but the empty people of the world will also see that there is something substantial to God and His salvation.

V.9 I was shut up; I did not open my mouth because it was You who acted.

If God is the force behind what happens in your life, and if God is truly God, and not just another man that we can judge and criticize, then it would behoove us to keep our mouth shut and not complain so much at the things we don’t like in life.
We have examples in scripture of saints who applied this lesson:

David, when Shemai cursed and threw rocks while David was escaping from Absalom’s takeover of Jerusalem - 2Sam. 16:10 But the king said, “…If he curses, and if the LORD has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’”
Job, when his wife saw how sick and destitute he was and suggested he curse God - 2:10 he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Eli the priest, when God fired him from the priesthood for his negligence and raised up Samuel in his place - 1Sam. 3:18 he said, "It is the LORD; let Him do what seems good to Him."

As mortal creatures, we have no right to criticize God about what He’s doing; we must treat Him with utmost respect. However, we still can (and should) ask Him respectfully for mercy and redemption:

V.10 Divert your scourge from upon me! As for me, I am finished as a result of the hostility of Your hand.

Job 13:21 “Remove Thy hand from me, And let not the dread of Thee terrify me.”
Job 9:34 "Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not dread of Him terrify me.”
It is important to recognize how God could “turn away” the punishment that justly should have been inflicted upon David for his transgressions. I keep going back to Isaiah 53:4ff because the substitutionary atonement of Jesus the Messiah is the heart of the good news in the Bible: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken [that’s the same word as stroke/plague/scourge in Ps. 39:10], Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” That’s how David the transgressor could ask God to “remove” his punishment; God would divert it upon His own Son!

V.11 It is with reproofs over iniquity that You discipline man, and You (like the moth) dissolve what he desires. Every man is, in fact, puny. [Selah]

God is superior to man when it comes to the ability to bring about justice. God will identify and articulate the things that we humans do wrong and bring it against us as accusations (or, as v.11 puts it “reproofs/rebukes”) in His court of justice, and He will be able to prove each accusation beyond all reasonable doubt and hold us as guilty as charged and condemn us. He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He doesn’t miss a thing.
God also has the power to execute punishment upon humans either to chasten them so that they will repent and be reconciled or to penalize them for their sin.

Isaiah 44:9 “Idol-shapers – all of them – are empty, and their delights never profit, and they are their own witnesses; they never saw and never knew, to the end that they will be shamed.” (NAW)
Hebrews 12:5-6 “…do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” (NKJV)
Often God chastens by “consuming/dissolving away” idols in your life that have gotten a little too precious to you:

maybe it is bodily beauty or handsomeness that starts to sag over time,
maybe it is some wealth or prestige that you gained and then lost,
or some other thing or person you desired more than Christ that God took away to turn your attention back to Him.
God has the power to do whatever it takes to work with humans.

The moth is used in a few other places in scripture describing God’s consuming judgment

Job 13:28 said that his body was decaying like a moth-eaten garment,
and Isaiah also mentioned the ungodly being consumed like moths eat wool sweaters (Isa 50:9, 51:8)
And it is in this sense that God compares Himself to a moth in Hosea 5:12 “Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim, And like rottenness to the house of Judah.”
Perhaps one reason why God compares Himself to a moth instead of to something more impressive - like a T.Rex - is that the moth’s work is hidden and slow. Often God’s judgments don’t come suddenly and publicly – the ungodly generally don’t get struck by lightning bolts, but rather they experience a slower, but just as deadly, corruption of their hearts and minds and bodies.

Once again, as the end of v.11 says, man is puny compared to God – vanity/a mere breath, and so our respect for Him should be great: James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (NKJV)

V.12 Please listen to my prayer, Yahweh, and please give ear to my hollering. Do not give me the silent treatment in response to my tears, because I am a visitor with You – a tenant like all my forefathers were.

From the position of humility, meekly acknowledging his lack of control, lack of ownership over the world, and shortness of duration, as well as his dependency upon God, he politely asks God to respond to him with salvation “please listen” (with a paragogic nun) and “please give year” (with a plaintive nah suffix).
The two words David uses to express his dependency and mortality are gēr and tōshav, translated in most versions “stranger” and “sojourner.” I suggest however, that there is a different Hebrew word (זוּר) with a root meaning of “strangeness/foreignness” that he would have used if his emphasis was on being an alien. Rather, the word גֵר has more to do with staying overnight as a guest; it is chosen out of an attitude of dependency upon God, staying as a temporary resident in God’s world where God is the host, and David is at God’s mercy. David models for us an appeal based upon God’s mercy for mortals.
In God’s eyes, even “towners” who have lived in Manhattan for decades are but temporary residents,

Leviticus 25:23 “The land… is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.”
1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.” (cf. Heb. 11:13 “All these died in faith… having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”)
We must not get to acting like we own our property; we are merely tenants on God’s land, responsible to use it for His glory and privileged to ask for His help.

And help He will - when we ask.

Psalm 18:6 “During my distress, I would call Yahweh, yes to my God I would holler. From His temple He would hear my voice, and my hollering would get to His attention, into His ears.” (NAW)
Psalm 56:8 “Thou hast taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Thy bottle; Are they not in Thy book?” Our tears will not be ignored.

V.13 Halt the investigation of me and let me flash a smile before I go and am no longer around.

The first word in v.13 is to be understood in the context of the Psalm – David is in pain, scourged, under discipline and reproof, and it is this faultfinding and punishing that David is asking God to turn away from. He wants God to put the investigation under wraps and forgive him of his sin and spare him from the punishment he deserves.

Psalm 130:3-5 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope.” (NKJV)

David’s final request seems a bit disrespectful and impatient, but David is clearly following the example of Job, who made similar statements:

Job 7:19 "Wilt Thou never turn Thy gaze away from me, Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?”
Job 10:20-21 “Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death…” (NKJV)
Job 14:6 “Turn Thy gaze from him that he may rest, Until he fulfills his day like a hired man.”
It is still relating to God as a humble mortal to say, in effect, “In my human condition, I am too frail to know all my sins, too feeble to pay for all my sins, so please in wrath remember mercy, please don’t discipline me in your wrath, please be merciful to me.”

Conclusion

So, how should a mortal – a sinner deserving God’s wrath – relate to the immortal God?

Should I try to talk to Him? Absolutely! He will listen.
Can I find out what He is doing or thinking? Absolutely! He is not silent toward those who trust Him. We have His words in the Bible, and we have His Spirit inside us.
Can I negotiate with Him? Yes! God does not expect us to simply passively endure the inevitable ravages of our sin; He wants us to team up with Him to bring redemption into this fallen world. We can absolutely ask for forgiveness and mercy and deliverance from the full consequences of sin!

o And what should my attitude be as I relate to Him? It should be one of humility: I am puny - nothing compared to You, I am not God; I am just a creature made in the image of God and given a tiny lifespan compared to God’s eternity, I am the servant; He is the Master. I wait for Him, not Him for me. I am a guest – a tenant - on His property, dependent upon Him, but I will ask for His mercy, and He will generously give me what I ask.

Psalm 103:8-17 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children”

Psalm 39[A]

LXX	Brenton	DRB	KJV	NAW	MT
1 (38:1) Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τῷ Ιδιθουν· ᾠδὴ τῷ Δαυιδ. (38:2) Εἶπα Φυλάξω τὰς ὁδούς μου τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐν γλώσ σῃ μου· ~~ἐθέμην~~ τῷ στόματί μου φυλακὴν ἐν τῷ συστῆναι τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐναντίον μου.	1 For the end, a Song of David, to Idithun. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I ~~set~~ a guard on my mouth, while the sinner stood in my presence.	1 Unto the end, for Idithun [himself], a canticle of David. (39:2) I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue. I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.	1 *To the chief Musician[B], 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 X my mouth [with] a bridle, while X [the] wicked is before me.	1 For the concert-master, for Jedithun, a psalm by David. I said, “I will keep my ways from sinning with my tongue; let me keep a muzzle against my mouth while yet an evil person is in my presence.”	1 לַמְנַצֵּחַ לִידִיתוּן[C] מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד: 2 אָמַרְתִּי אֶשְׁמְרָה דְרָכַי מֵחֲטוֹא בִלְשׁוֹנִי אֶשְׁמְרָה[D] לְפִי מַחְסוֹם בְּעֹד[E] רָשָׁע לְנֶגְדִּי:
2 (38:3) ἐκωφώθην [καὶ] ~~ἐταπεινώθην~~ [καὶ] ἐσίγησα ἐξ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τὸ ἄλγημά μου ἀνεκαινίσθη.	2 I was dumb, [and] ~~humbled~~ ~~myself~~, [and] kept silence from good [words]; and my grief was renewed.	2 (39:3) I was dumb, [and] was ~~humbled~~, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.	2 I was dumb [with] silence, I held my peace, even from good[F]; and my sorrow[G] was stirred.	2 I was shut up, motionless. I held my peace from good yet my pain was stirred up.	3 נֶאֱלַמְתִּי דוּמִיָּה[H] הֶחֱשֵׁיתִי מִטּוֹב וּכְאֵבִי נֶעְכָּר:
3 (38:4) ἐθερμάνθη ἡ καρδία μου ἐντός μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ μελέτῃ μου ἐκκαυθήσεται πῦρ. ἐλάλησα ἐν γλώσσῃ μου	3 My heart grew hot within me, and a fire would kindle in my meditation: I spoke with my tongue,	3 (39:4) My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.	3 My heart was hot within me, while I ~~was~~ mus~~ing~~ the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,	3 My heart heated up inside me; as a result of my meditation, a fire burned. I spoke using my tongue,	4 חַם-לִבִּי בְּקִרְבִּי בַּהֲגִיגִי תִבְעַר-אֵשׁ דִּבַּרְתִּי בִּלְשׁוֹנִי:
4 (38:5) Γνώρισόν μοι, κύριε, τὸ πέρας μου καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν μου, τίς ἐστιν, ἵνα γνῶ τί ὑστερῶ ἐγώ.	4 O Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, what it is; that I may know what I lack.	4 (39:5) I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.	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.	4 “Yahweh, make known to me my end and the length of my days, what it is. I would know how gone I am.	5 הוֹדִיעֵנִי יְהוָה קִצִּי וּמִדַּת יָמַי מַה-הִיא אֵדְעָה[I] מֶה-חָדֵל אָנִי:
5 (38:6) ἰδοὺ παλαιστὰς ἔθου τὰς ἡμέρας μου, καὶ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσεὶ οὐθὲν ἐνώπιόν σου· πλὴν τὰ σύμπαντα ματαιότης, πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ζῶν. διάψαλμα.	5 Behold, thou hast made my days old; and my existence is as nothing before thee: nay, every man living is altogether vanity. Pause.	5 (39:6) Behold thou hast made my days measureable. and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.	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[J] is altogether vanity. Selah.	5 Look, it is handbreadths that You gave my days to be, and my lifetime is like nothing in comparison with you. In fact, every man taking his stand is totally puny. [Selah]	6 הִנֵּה טְפָחוֹת נָתַתָּה יָמַי וְחֶלְדִּי כְאַיִן נֶגְדֶּךָ אַךְ כָּל-הֶבֶל כָּל-אָדָם נִצָּב[K] סֶלָה:
6 (38:7) μέντοιγε ἐν εἰκόνι διαπορεύεται ἄνθρωπος, πλὴν μάτην ταράσσονται· θησαυρίζει καὶ οὐ γινώσκει τίνι συνάξει αὐτά.	6 Surely man walks in a shadow; nay, he is disquieted in vain: he lays up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them.	6 (39:7) Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.	6 Surely [every] man walketh in a vain shew:[L] surely they are disquieted[M] in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.	6 In fact, it is with an image that man conducts himself; they make a roar that is just puny; he collects things but doesn’t know who will get them.	7 אַךְ-בְּצֶלֶם יִתְהַלֶּךְ-אִישׁ אַךְ-הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן יִצְבֹּר וְלֹא-יֵדַע מִי-אֹסְפָם:
7 (38:8) καὶ νῦν τίς ἡ ὑπομονή μου; [οὐχὶ] ὁ κύριος X; [καὶ] ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου παρὰ σοῦ ἐστιν X.	7 And now what is my expectation? [is it not] the Lord X? [and] my ground of hope is with thee X. Pause.	7 (39:8) And now what is my hope? [is it not] the Lord? [and] my substance is with thee.	7 And now, X Lord, what wait I for? my hope X is in thee.	7 So now, what have I waited for, my Master, my hope? It is for You!	8 וְעַתָּה מַה-קִּוִּיתִי[N] אֲדֹנָי תּוֹחַלְתִּי[O] לְךָ הִיא:
8 (38:9) ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἀνομιῶν μου ῥῦσαί με, ὄνειδος ἄφρονι X ἔδωκάς με.	8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: thou ~~hast~~ X made me a reproach to the foolish.	8 (39:9) Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou ~~hast~~ X made me a reproach to the fool.	8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.	8 From all my transgressions rescue me; don’t put me in the situation of being the stigma of a fool.	9 מִכָּל-פְּשָׁעַי הַצִּילֵנִי חֶרְפַּת נָבָל אַל-תְּשִׂימֵנִי:
9 (38:10) ἐκωφώθην [καὶ] οὐκ ἤνοιξα τὸ στόμα μου, ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ποιήσας [με].	9 I was dumb, [and] opened not my mouth; for thou art he that made [me].	9 (39:10) I was dumb, [and] I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.	9 I was dumb, I opened not[P] my mouth; because thou didst it.	9 I was shut up; I did not open my mouth because it was You who acted.	10 נֶאֱלַמְתִּי לֹא אֶפְתַּח-פִּי כִּי אַתָּה עָשִׂיתָ:
10 (38:11) ἀπόστησον ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὰς μάστιγάς σου· ἀπὸ τῆς ~~ἰσχύος~~ τῆς χειρός σου ἐγὼ ἐξέλιπον.	10 Remove thy scourge[s] from me: I have fainted by reason of the ~~strength~~ of thine hand.	10 (39:11) Remove thy scourge[s] from me. The ~~strength~~ of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes	10 Remove thy stroke[Q] away from me: I am consumed[R] by the blow[S] of thine hand.	10 Divert your scourge from upon me! As for me, I am finished as a result of the hostility of Your hand.	11 הָסֵר מֵעָלַי נִגְעֶךָ מִתִּגְרַת יָדְךָ אֲנִי כָלִיתִי:
11 (38:12) ἐν ἐλεγμοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀνομίας ἐπαίδευσας ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐξέτηξας ὡς ἀράχνην τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ· πλὴν μάτην [ταράσσεται] πᾶς ἄνθρωπος. διάψαλμα.	11 Thou chastenest man with rebukes for iniquity, and thou makest his life to consume away like a spider['s web]; nay, every man is [disquieted in] vain. Pause.	11 (39:12) Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely [in] vain is any man [disquieted].	11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty[T] to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.	11 It is with reproofs over iniquity that You discipline man, and You (like the moth) dissolve what he desires. Every man is, in fact, puny. [Selah]	12 בְּתוֹכָחוֹת עַל-עָוֹן יִסַּרְתָּ אִישׁ וַתֶּמֶס[U] כָּעָשׁ חֲמוּדוֹ אַךְ הֶבֶל כָּל-אָדָם סֶלָה:
12 (38:13) εἰσάκουσον τῆς προσευχῆς μου, κύριε, καὶ τῆς δεήσεώς μου ἐνώτισαι· τῶν δακρύων μου μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς, ὅτι πάροικος ἐγώ εἰμι παρὰ σοὶ [καὶ] παρεπίδημος καθὼς πάντες οἱ πατέρες μου.	12 O Lord, hearken to my prayer and my supplication: attend to my tears: be not silent, for I am a sojourner in ~~the land~~, [and] a stranger, as all my fathers were.	12 (39:13) Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be no silent: for I am a stranger with thee, [and] a sojourner as all my fathers were.	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[V], as all my fathers were.	12 Please listen to my prayer, Yahweh, and please give ear to my hollering. Do not give me the silent treatment in response to my tears, because I am a visitor with You – a tenant like all my forefathers were.	13 שִׁמְעָה-תְפִלָּתִי יְהוָה וְשַׁוְעָתִי הַאֲזִינָה אֶל-דִּמְעָתִי אַל-תֶּחֱרַשׁ כִּי גֵר אָנֹכִי עִמָּךְ תּוֹשָׁב כְּכָל-אֲבוֹתָי:
13 (38:14) ἄνες[W] μοι, ἵνα ἀναψύξω[X] πρὸ[Y] τοῦ με ἀπελθεῖν καὶ οὐκέτι μὴ ὑπάρξω.	13 Spare me, that I may be refreshed, before I depart, and be no more.	13 (39:14) O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.	13 O spare me, that I may recover strength,[Z] before I go [hence], and be no more.	13 Halt the investigation of me and let me flash a smile before I go and I am no longer [around].	14 הָשַׁע[AA] מִמֶּנִּי וְאַבְלִיגָה[BB] בְּטֶרֶם אֵלֵךְ וְאֵינֶנִּי:

[1] Unless otherwise noted, Cross-references are from the NASB