PSALM XXXIX. THIS PSALM IS A PENITENTIAL MEDITATION ON THE VANITY OF THE PRESENT LIFE. IT DOES NOT SEEM TO BE APPRO PRIATED TO ANY PARTICULAR PERSON. 1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, not to sin; To my tongue I will take heed; a muzzle on my mouth, So long as the impious is before me. 2 I was mute and still; I-made-myself-silent Of good ; but my grief rankled. 3 My heart grew hot within me. By my earnest meditation the fire kindled. I spake with my tongue. 4 Shew me, O Jehovah, my end, And the measure of my days; let me know what it is, How brief I am. 5 Behold, thou hast appointed my days a hand breadth, Mine age is nothing before thee; Truly every thing is vanity, [Even] every man, with all his pride. [A] 6 Surely man's whole life is a mere shew *; Surely they turmoil in vain; His-accumulated-riches,―he knoweth not who shall gather them. [B] 7 And now, what is my expectation! O Lord, what I look for from thee is this; 8 Deliver me from all my disobedient deeds, Make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 I have been mute, I open not my mouth, Because thou hast brought-to-pass. * Literally," man walketh in an image.” "Life is a mere "shew," the baseless fabric of a vision." Vid. Ps. LXXIII, 20. "His accumulated riches," literally, "his heaps." G 3 10 Remove thy plague from me, I am-worn-away under the keen-strokes * of thy hand. 11 With rebukes for perverseness thou chastisest every one; And, like a moth, thou makest his bounty gra- 12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And turn thine ear to my cry; A stranger and a sojourner with thee. 13 Spare me, that I may taste of comfort, Before I go away, and be no more. *"Keen-strokes." I refer the word to the root, . "The whole of man," or, " all mankind.” PSALM XL. MESSIAH, RISEN FROM THE DEAD, RETURNS THANKS FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS WORK, AND PRAYS FOR ITS FINAL EFFECT, 1 With steady hope I waited * for Jehovah, And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He hath even raised me up from the void pit, And he hath placed my feet upon a rock, 3 Thus he hath put a new song in A-song-of-praise unto our God. 4 Many shall consider, my mouth, And they shall fear, and trust in Jehovah. * Literally, "waiting, I waited." + Literally, "established," or, "set firm my steps," or "goings." ‡ "Shall look to it." 5 Blessed is the man whose confidence is the name of Jehovah, * And turneth-him not to pride, and the wanderings of falsehood. [A] 6 Many are thy wonders which thou hast performed, O Jehovah my God; And thy schemes for us none can in order recite unto thee. I would declare them, and discourse of them,they are too many to be enumerated. 7 In sacrifice and offering thou delightest not, But mine ears hast thou opened [B]; Burnt-offering and sin-offering thou demandest not; 8 Then said I, lo! I come. In the roll of the book is written concerning me, I have delighted, O my God, to execute thy gracious-will, [C] And thy decree † [I have had] within my heart. * LXX. Vulg. and Syr. "Thy decree," the same decree mentioned, Ps. II, 7. |