chastisement · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
correct
יִסַּ֬רְתָּyi.Sar.ta
H3256
to chastise · verb, piel perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
man
אִ֗ישׁ'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
iniquity
עָוֹ֨ן'a.Von
H5771
perversity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
beauty
חֲמוּד֑וֹcha.mu.Do
H2530
to delight in · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
away
וַתֶּ֣מֶסva.Te.mes
H4529
to dissolve · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
moth
כָּעָ֣שׁka.'Ash
H6211
a moth · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
אָדָ֣ם'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
vanity
הֶ֖בֶלHe.vel
H1892
emptiness or vanity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Selah
סֶֽלָהSe.lah
H5542
suspension (of music) · interjection
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
Isaiah 50:9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
1 Corinthians 11:30-32 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Psalms 102:10-11 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
1 Corinthians 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Job 4:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 39:7–end
The psalmist, having meditated on the shortness and uncertainty of life, and the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all the comforts of life, here, in these verses, turns his eyes and heart heaven-ward. When there is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature it is to be found in God, and in communion with him; and to him we should be driven by our disappointments in the world. David here expresses,
I. His dependence on God, Psa 39:7. Seeing all is vanity, and man himself is so, 1. He despairs of a happiness in the things of the world, and disclaims all expectations from it: "Now, Lord, what wait I for? Even nothing from the things of sense and time; I have nothing to wish for, n…
From his own case, he argues to that of all, that the destruction of man's enjoyments is ascribable to sin.
John Gill on Psalms 39:11
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,.... The psalmist illustrates his own case, before suggested, by the common case and condition of men, when God corrects them; which he has a right to do, as the Father of spirits, and which he does with rebukes; sometimes with rebukes of wrath, with furious rebukes, rebukes in flames of fire, as the men of the world; and sometimes with rebukes of love, the chastenings of a father, as his own dear children; and always for iniquity, whether one or another; and not the iniquity of Adam is here meant, but personal iniquity: and correction for it is to be understood of some bodily affliction, as the effect of it shows;
thou makest his beauty…
Psalm 39:10-11
10. Take away thy stroke from me: I have failed [or fainted] by the blow of thy hand. 11. Thou chastisest man with rebukes for his iniquity; and as a moth, thou makest his excellency to consume away: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
10 Take away thy stroke from me. David here confirms the prayer which he had already presented, namely, that having obtained pardon from God, he might, at the same time, be gently dealt with by him. This prayer, however, does not disturb the silence of which he had just made mention; for our desires and prayers, if they are framed according to the rule of God's word, are not inconsiderate and noisy so as to provoke the divine displeasure agains…
The Church Fathers
I realize that all your scourging proves to be for a person's correction and betterment; it is not as though you were indifferent to human beings in allowing them to suffer, instead preferring to improve their souls.
So this is what should concern us, being rescued from sins and attaining reconciliation with you, which results in complete resolution of problems, and not taking pains over other things, which are futile and useless for the painstaker, never bringing one an outcome for the pains or providing one with lasting benefit from the pains.
"Thou with rebukes hast chastened man for iniquity; Thou hast made my life to consume away like a spider" (ver. 11). There is much that is discerned by this Idithun; by every one who discerns as he does; who overleaps as he does. For he says, that he has fainted in God's corrections; and would fain have the stroke removed away from him, "because it is He who made him." Let Him renew me, who also made me; let Him who created me, create me anew. But yet, Brethren, do we suppose that there was no cause for his fainting, so that he wishes to be "renewed," to be "created anew"? It is "for iniquity," saith he, "that Thou hast chastened man." All this, my having fainted, my being weak, my "crying out of the deep," all of this is because of "iniquity;" and in this Thou hast not condemned, but hast "chastened" me. "Thou hast chastened man for sin." Hear this more plainly from another Psalm: "It is good for me that Thou hast afflicted me, that I might learn Thy righteousness." I have been "afflicted," and at the same time "it is good for me;" it is at once a punishment, and an act of favour. What hath He in store for us after punishment is over, who inflicts punishment itself by way of favour? For He it is of whom it was said, "I was brought low, and He made me whole:" and, "It is good for me that Thou hast afflicted me, that I might learn Thy righteousness." "Thou chastenest man for iniquity." And that which is written, "Thou formest my grief in teaching me," could only be said unto God by one who was "leaping beyond" his fellows; "Thou formest my grief in teaching me;" Thou makest, that is to say, a lesson for me out of my sorrow. It is Thou that formest that very grief itself; Thou dost not leave it unformed, but formest it; and that grief, that has been inflicted by Thee, when formed, will be a lesson unto me, that I may be set free by Thee. For the word finges is used in the sense of "forming," as it were moulding, my grief; not in the sense of "feigning" it; in the same way that fingit is applied to the artist, in the same sense that figulus is derived from fingere. Thou therefore "hast chastened man for iniquity." I see myself in afflictions; I see myself under punishment; and I see no unrighteousness in Thee. If I therefore am under punishment, and if there is no unrighteousness with Thee, it remains that Thou must have been "chastening man for iniquity." And…
Dictionary and topics
Jeduthun — Lauder; praising, a Levite of the family of Merari, and one of the three masters of music appointed by David (1 Chr. 16:41, 42; 25:1-6). He is called in 2 Chr. 35:15 “the king’s seer.” His…
Moth — Heb. ‘ash, from a root meaning “to fall away,” as moth-eaten garments fall to pieces (Job 4:19; 13:28; Isa. 50:9; 51:8; Hos. 5:12). Gr. ses, thus rendered in Matt. 6:19, 20; Luke 12:33. Allusion is…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Beauty · Vanity of — Vanity of
Life · BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF — BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF
Man · God: Makes his beauty consume away — God: Makes his beauty consume away
Moth · An insect — An insect
Reproof · When from God: Is for correction — When from God: Is for correction
Vanity · Every man has — Every man has
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
(Heb.: 39:8-12) It is customary to begin a distinct turning-point of a discourse with ועתּה: and now, i.e., in connection with this nothingness of vanity of a life which is so full of suffering and unrest, what am I to hope, quid sperem (concerning the perfect, vid., on Psa 11:3)? The answer to this question which he himself throws out is, that Jahve is the goal of his waiting or hoping. It might appear strange that the poet is willing to make the brevity of human life a reason for being calm, and a ground of comfort. But here we have the explanation. Although not expressly assured of a future life of blessedness, his faith, even in the midst of death, lays hold on Jahve as the Living One an…
The Lord uses discipline to correct his children (38:1, 3, 7; 40:12; see Prov 3:11-12; Heb 12:5-6).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 39:11
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 for iniquity. God does not trifle with his rod; he uses it because of sin, and with a view to whip us from it; hence he means his strokes to be felt, and felt they are. Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. As the moth frets the substance of the fabric, mars all its beauty, and leaves it worn out and worthless, so do the chastisements of God discover to us our folly, weakness, and nothingness, and make us feel ourselves to be as worn out vestures, worthless and useless. Beauty must be a poor thing w…
