_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._ As Psalms 37:1 is the subsequent, calm meditation on the right demeanour of the believer when persecuted by flourishing sinners. Psalms 39:1 represents the agitat... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WAS DUMB WITH SILENCE, I HELD MY PEACE, EVEN FROM GOOD; AND MY SORROW WAS STIRRED._ I held my peace, (even) from good - even from pleading before God with warrantable arguments. I said nothing as to the goodness of my cause, in the conflict which mine enemies had raised against me. Gejer takes i... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY HEART WAS HOT WITHIN ME, WHILE I WAS MUSING THE FIRE BURNED: THEN SPAKE I WITH MY TONGUE,_ My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue - (cf. Jeremiah 20:9.) On "musing," cf. note, Psalms 5:1, 'meditation.' The subject of his meditative musing was... [ Continue Reading ]
_LORD, MAKE ME TO KNOW MINE END, AND THE MEASURE OF MY DAYS, WHAT IT IS; THAT I MAY KNOW HOW FRAIL I AM._ Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is. Not a pious prayer such as Psalms 90:12, or as Psalms 119:84, but an impatient demand to know when his life, which is co-... [ Continue Reading ]
_BEHOLD, THOU HAST MADE MY DAYS AS AN HANDBREADTH; AND MINE AGE IS AS NOTHING BEFORE THEE: VERILY EVERY MAN AT HIS BEST STATE IS ALTOGETHER VANITY. SELAH._ And mine age (note, 'the world'-same Hebrew as "age" - Psalms 17:14) IS AS NOTHING BEFORE THEE - `is as non-existence' (Hengstenberg). "Befor... [ Continue Reading ]
_SURELY EVERY MAN WALKETH IN A VAIN SHEW: SURELY THEY ARE DISQUIETED IN VAIN: HE HEAPETH UP RICHES, AND KNOWETH NOT WHO SHALL GATHER THEM._ Surely every man walketh in a vain show - Hebrew, 'only as a shadow walketh man (or 'as an unreal image') [the bª- marks that this is his essential character-l... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND NOW, LORD, WHAT WAIT I FOR? MY HOPE IS IN THEE_ _ AND NOW, LORD, WHAT WAIT I FOR? MY HOPE IS IN THEE._ And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Here the true spiritual man resumes the ascendancy, after the temporary outbreak of impatience emanating from the old Adam. The flame of tr... [ Continue Reading ]
_DELIVER ME FROM ALL MY TRANSGRESSIONS: MAKE ME NOT THE REPROACH OF THE FOOLISH._ Deliver me from all my transgressions - alike from their guilt, power, and penalty; especially from being delivered up to mine enemies (cf. next clause). MAKE ME NOT THE REPROACH OF THE FOOLISH. This is the "stroke... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WAS DUMB, I OPENED NOT MY MOUTH; BECAUSE THOU DIDST IT._ I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. The sense is 'I have become mute (as to complaints against God); I do not open my mouth; because Thou hast done it.' Not that David ceases to speak in prayer for deliverance from en... [ Continue Reading ]
_REMOVE THY STROKE AWAY FROM ME: I AM CONSUMED BY THE BLOW OF THINE HAND._ Remove thy stroke - (margin, Psalms 38:11.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_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._ When thou with rebukes dost correct man. God's word of 'rebuke' is equivalent to punishment in act; because His Word effects His will. THOU MAKEST HIS BEA... [ Continue Reading ]
_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, AS ALL MY FATHERS WERE._ Hear my prayer, O Lord ... hold not thy peace at my tears - the petition. The ground on which it rests follows. FOR I AM A STRANGER WITH THEE,... [ Continue Reading ]
_O SPARE ME, THAT I MAY RECOVER STRENGTH, BEFORE I GO HENCE, AND BE NO MORE._ O spare me - literally, 'look away from me;' 'turn away (thy angry look) from me' х_ HAASHA`_ (H8159) _ MIMENIY_ (H4480)]. THAT I MAY RECOVER STRENGTH, х_ BAALAG_ (H1082)] - literally, 'that I may exhilarate (my counten... [ Continue Reading ]