Psalm 39-40

Lexham English Bible

39 I 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.”
² I was mute with silence. I was silent even from saying good things,
and my pain was stirred up.
³ My 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.”
⁵ Look, you have made my days mere handbreadths,
and my lifespan as nothing next to you.
Surely every person standing firm is complete vanity. Selah
⁶ Surely 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.
⁷ And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is for you.
⁸ From all my transgressions deliver me;
do not make me the taunt of the fool.
⁹ I am mute. I do not open my mouth,
for you, yourself, have done it.
¹⁰ Remove from me your affliction.
By the opposition of your hand I perish.
¹¹ When 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
¹² Hear 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]
13 Look away from me that I may be cheerful,
before I depart and I am no more.

40 I waited patiently for Yahweh,
And he inclined to me
and heard my cry for help.
² And so he brought me up from the roaring pit,^[k]
from the miry clay.
And he put my feet upon a rock;
he made my steps steady.
³ Then he put a new song in my mouth,
a praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and will trust Yahweh.
⁴ Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust
and does not turn to the proud and to those who fall away to a lie.^[l]
5 Many 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.
⁶ A sacrifice and offering you do not desire.
My ears you have opened.^[m]
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not demanded.
⁷ Then 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.’”^[n]
9 I have brought good tidings of righteousness in the great congregation.
Look, I have not shut my lips.
O Yahweh, you surely know that.^[o]
10 Your 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.
¹¹ As for you, O Yahweh, do not withhold your mercies from me.
Let your loyal love and your faithfulness
continually preserve me.
¹² For 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.
¹³ Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me.
O Yahweh, hurry to help me.
¹⁴ Let them be shamed and abashed altogether
who seek to take away my life.^[p]
Let them be repulsed and humiliated
who desire my harm.
¹⁵ Let them be appalled because of their shame,
those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
¹⁶ Let them rejoice and be glad in you,
all those who seek you.
Let them say continually, “Yahweh is great!”
—those who love your salvation.
¹⁷ But I am poor and needy.
Let my Lord consider me.
You are my help and my deliverer.
O my God, do not delay.