39. PRAYER AND PRAISE IN VIEW OF FUTURE BLESSING.
X2  Y  1-3. Silent meditation.
     Z  4. Speech. Prayer.
      A  5-. The fading life. "I".
       B  -5,6. Vanity of man. Selah.
        C  D  w  7-. Departure.
               x  -7. Hope in You.
                E  y  8-. Supplication.
                    z  -8. Deprecation.
    Y  9. Silent meditation.
     Z  10-. Speech. Prayer.
      A  -10. The fading of beauty. "I".
       B  11. Vanity of man. Selah.
        C       E  y  12-. Supplication.
                    z  -12-. Deprecation.
         D     x  -12. Hope in You.
              w  13. Departure.

(A Psalm by David, and relating to the true David.)

(The Psalm is a continuation of the subject of this last group of 4 Psalms. Verses 2 and 9 link it on to 38:13; and v.1 to 38:17. See note on title of Ps. 38.)

Psalm 39)

1 I formed this resolution, I will observe (or keep, guard) my ways,
That I sin not with my tongue:
I will keep my mouth with a muzzle,
While a lawless one is before me.
2 I was dumb (as if tongue-tied) with silence, I held my peace, even from good [words];
And my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned:
Then spoke I with my tongue,

4 LORD, make me to know my end,
And the measure of my days, what it is:
That I may know how short-lived I am.

5 Behold, You have made my days as an hand-breadth;
And my lifetime is as nothing before you:

Verily every man at though standing fast (or firmly established) is only all vanity. Selah.(Connecting the vanity of v.5 with the expansion and explanation of it in v.6.)
6 Surely every man walks (i.e. habitually) only in a mere form:
Surely they are disquieted in vain:
He heaps up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

7 And now, Lord, what wait I for?

My hope is in You.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;

Because You did it.

10 Remove Your stroke away from me:

I am consumed by the pressure of Your hand.

11 When You with rebukes do correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty to consume away like a moth:
surely every man is vanity. Selah.(Connecting human vanity with an abiding reality and a divinely provided resource - prayer, and hope in Yehovah.)

12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry;

Hold not Your peace at my tears:

For I am a stranger with You,
And a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

13 O spare me, that I may be comforted,
Before I go hence, and be no more.

(To the chief Musician.)

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