Psalm 39–41

The Brevity of Human Life

39For the music director. For Jeduthun.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹I said, “I will guard my ways

that I may not sin^c with my tongue.

I will keep a muzzle over my mouth

as long as the wicked are before me.”

²I was mute with silence. I was silent even from saying good things,

and my pain was stirred up.

³My heart grew hot inside me;

in my sighing a fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue,

⁴“Let me know, O Yahweh, my end,

and what is the measure of my days.

Let me know how transient I am.”

⁵Look, you have made my days mere handbreadths,

and my lifespan as nothing next to you.

Surely every person standing firm is complete vanity. Selah

⁶Surely a man walks about as a mere shadow;^d

surely in vain they bustle about.

He heaps up possessions but does not know who will gather them in.

⁷And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is for you.

⁸From all my transgressions deliver me;

do not make me the taunt of the fool.

⁹I am mute. I do not open my mouth,

for you, yourself, have done it.

¹⁰Remove from me your affliction.

By the opposition of your hand I perish.

¹¹When with rebukes you chastise a man for sin,

you^e consume^f like a moth his delightful things.

Surely everyone is a mere vapor.^g Selah

¹²Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and listen to my cry for help;

do not be deaf to my tears.

For I am an alien^h with you,

a sojourner like all my ancestors.ⁱ

¹³Look away from me that I may be cheerful,

before I depart and I am no more.

God’s Faithfulness and Deliverance

40For the music director. Of David. A psalm.^a

¹I waited patiently for Yahweh,

And he inclined to me

and heard my cry for help.

²And so he brought me up from the roaring pit,^b

from the miry clay.

And he put my feet upon a rock;

he made my steps steady.

³Then he put a new song in my mouth,

a praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and will trust Yahweh.

⁴Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust

and does not turn to the proud and to those who fall away to a lie.^c

⁵Many things, O Yahweh my God, you have done—

your wonderful deeds and your thoughts toward us.

There is none to compare with you.

If I tried to proclaim and tell of them,

they would be too numerous to count.

⁶A sacrifice and offering you do not desire.

My ears you have opened.^d

Burnt offering and sin offering you have not demanded.

⁷Then I said, “Look, I come.

In the scroll of the book

it is written concerning me:

⁸‘I delight to do your will, O my God,

and your law is deep within me.’ ”^e

⁹I have brought good tidings of righteousness in the great congregation.

Look, I have not shut my lips.

O Yahweh, you surely know that.^f

¹⁰Your righteousness I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation.

I have not concealed your loyal love or your faithfulness

from the great congregation.

¹¹As for you, O Yahweh, do not withhold your mercies from me.

Let your loyal love and your faithfulness

continually preserve me.

¹²For evils without number have encompassed me.

My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.

They are more than the hairs of my head,

and my heart fails me.

¹³Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me.

O Yahweh, hurry to help me.

¹⁴Let them be shamed and abashed altogether

who seek to take away my life.^g

Let them be repulsed and humiliated

who desire my harm.

¹⁵Let them be appalled because of their shame,

those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”

¹⁶Let them rejoice and be glad in you,

all those who seek you.

Let them say continually, “Yahweh is great!”

—those who love your salvation.

¹⁷But I am poor and needy.

Let my Lord consider me.

You are my help and my deliverer.

O my God, do not delay.

Thanksgiving for God’s Provision in Time of Sickness

41For the music director. A psalm of David.^a

¹Blessed is the one who has regard for the poor;

in the day of disaster, Yahweh delivers him.

²Yahweh protects him and keeps him alive;

he is blessed in the land,

and you do not give him

into the will^b of his enemies.

³Yahweh sustains him on his sick bed.

In his illness, you restore to health.^c

⁴As for me, I said, “O Yahweh, be gracious to me.

Heal me,^d for I have sinned against you.”

⁵My enemies speak evil about me,

“When will he die and his name perish?”

⁶And when one comes to see me, he speaks falsely;

his heart gathers disaster for itself.

He goes out to the street; he speaks.

⁷All who hate me speak together against me.

Against me they assume the worst^e for me:

⁸“A ruinous thing is poured out on him,

and now that he lies down, he will not rise up again.”

⁹Even my close friend,^f whom I trusted,

who ate my bread,

has lifted his heel against me.

¹⁰But you, O Yahweh, be gracious to me and raise me up

that I may repay them.

¹¹By this I know that you delight in me:

because my enemy has not shouted in triumph over me.

¹²As for me, you have upheld me in my integrity,

and you have set me in your presence forever.

¹³Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen.