Psalms 39:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Psalms 39:12
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.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
prayer
תְפִלָּתִ֨יte.fi.la.Ti
H8605
intercession · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
LORD
יְהוָ֡הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
ear
הַאֲזִינָה֮ha.'a.zi.Nah
H238
to broaden out the ear (with the hand) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
cry
וְשַׁוְעָתִ֨יve.shav.'a.Ti
H7775
a hallooing · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
peace
תֶּ֫חֱרַ֥שׁte.che.Rash
H2790
to scratch · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
tears
דִּמְעָתִ֗יdim.'a.Ti
H1832
weeping · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
stranger
גֵ֣רger
H1616
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sojourner
תּ֝וֹשָׁ֗בto.Shav
H8453
resident alien · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fathers
אֲבוֹתָֽי'a.vo.Tai
H1
father · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
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
1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and…
Leviticus 25:23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
2 Kings 20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have se…
Genesis 47:9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years…
Psalms 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
Psalms 119:19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
1 Chronicles 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
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…
Consonant with the tenor of the Psalm, he prays for God's compassionate regard to him as a stranger here; and that, as such was the condition of his fathers, so, like them, he may be cheered instead of being bound under wrath and chastened in displeasure.
Next: Psalms Chapter 40
John Gill on Psalms 39:12
Hear my prayer, O Lord,.... Which was, that he would remove the affliction from him that lay so hard and heavy upon him;
and give ear unto my cry; which shows the distress he was in, and the vehemency with which he put up his petition to the Lord;
hold not thy peace at my tears; which were shed in great plenty, through the violence of the affliction, and in his fervent prayers to God; see Hebrews 5:7;
for I am a stranger with thee; not to God, to Christ, to the Spirit, to the saints, to himself, and the plague of his own heart, or to the devices of Satan; but in the world, and to the men of it; being unknown to them, and behaving as a stranger among them; all which was known to God, and m…
Psalm 39:12-13
12. Hear my prayer, O Jehovah! and hearken to my cry; and hold not thy peace [77] at my tears: for I am a stranger before thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 13. Let me alone, that I may recover strength, before I depart, and be no more.
12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah! David gradually increases his vehemence in prayer. He speaks first of prayer; in the second place, of crying; and in the third place, of tears This gradation is not a mere figure of rhetoric, which serves only to adorn the style, or to express the same thing in different language. This shows that David bewailed his condition sincerely, and from the bottom of his heart; and in this he has given us, by…
The Church Fathers
What the psalmist means is: As long as I am in this body, I am unhappy. Who of us could say that? If we are octogenarians, we are afraid to die; if we are centenarians and sick besides, still we cling to life and beg for respite. Why do we do that? Because sin gnaws at our conscience. We know that if we leave our body, we are going not to Christ but to hell. On the contrary, what does the apostle say? "I desire to depart and to be with Christ." Give me freedom from anxiety, for after death I am going to be with Christ; even now I long to die. So our psalmist, because he is one who loves the Lord, cries: Unhappy man that I am, because my sojourn is prolonged!
"Hear my prayer, O Lord" (ver. 12). Whereof shall I rejoice? Whereof should I groan? I rejoice on account of what is past, I groan longing for these which are not yet come. "Hear my prayer, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not Thy peace at my tears." For do I now no longer weep, because I have already "passed by," have "left behind" so great things as these? "Do I not weep much the more?" For, "He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow." The more I long for what is not here, do I not so much the more groan for it until it comes? do I not so much the more weep until it comes?... "For I am a sojourner with Thee." But with whom am I a "sojourner"? When I was with the devil, I was a "sojourner;" but then I had a bad host and entertainer; now, however, I am with Thee; but I am a "sojourner" still. What is meant by a sojourner? I am a "sojourner" in the place from which I am to remove; not in the place where I am to dwell for ever. The place where I am to abide for ever, should be rather called my home. In the place from which I am to remove I am a "sojourner;" but yet it is with my God that I am a sojourner, with whom I am hereafter to abide, when I have reached my home. But what home is that to which you are to remove from this estate of a sojourner? Recognise that home, of which the Apostle speaks, "We have an habitation of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens." If this house is eternal in the Heavens, when we have come to it, we shall not be sojourners any more. For how should you be a sojourner in an eternal home? But here, where the Master of the house is some day to say to you, "Remove," while you yourself know not when He will say it, be thou in readiness. And by longing for your eternal home, you will be keeping yourself in readiness for it. And be not angry with Him, because He gives thee notice to remove, when He Himself pleases. For He made no covenant with thee, nor did He bind Himself by any engagement; nor didst thou enter upon the tenancy of this house on a certain stipulation for a definite term: thou art to quit, when it is its Master's pleasure. For therefore is it that you now dwell there free of charge. "For I am a sojourner with Thee, and a stranger." Therefore it is there is my country: it is there is my home. "I am a sojourner with Thee, and a stranger." Here too is understood "with Thee." For many are strangers…
Dictionary and topics
Alien — A foreigner, or person born in another country, and therefore not entitled to the rights and privileges of the country where he resides. Among the Hebrews there were two classes of aliens. (1.) Those…
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…
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…
Affliction, Prayer Under · For mitigation of troubles — For mitigation of troubles
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Ear · .Anthropomorphic uses of — .Anthropomorphic uses of
Pilgrims And Strangers · All saints are — All saints are
Tears · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Titles And Names Of Saints · Sojourners with God — Sojourners with God
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.: 39:13-14) Finally, the poet renews the prayer for an alleviation of his sufferings, basing it upon the shortness of the earthly pilgrimage. The urgent שׁמעה is here fuller toned, being שׁמעה.
(Note: So Heidenheim and Baer, following Abulwald, Efodi, and Mose ha-Nakdan. The Masoretic observation לית קמץ חטף, "only here with Kametzchateph," is found appended in codices. This Chatephkametz is euphonic, as in לקחה, Gen 2:23, and in many other instances that are obliterated in our editions, vid., Abulwald, חרקמה ס, p. 198, where even מטּהרו = מטּהרו, Psa 89:45, is cited among these examples (Ges. 10, 2 rem.).)
Side by side with the language of prayer, tears even appear here as prayer that…
A guest (or foreigner) had no rights of land ownership (see Lev 25:23). The patriarchs had lived as guests in Canaan (Ps 105:23).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 39:12
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. Drown not my pleadings with the sound of thy strokes. Thou hast heard the clamour of my sins, Lord; hear the laments of my prayers. And give ear unto my cry. Here is an advance in intensity: a cry is more vehement, pathetic, and impassioned, than a prayer. The main thing was to have the Lord's ear and heart. Hold not thy peace at my tears. This is a yet higher degree of importunate pleading. Who can withstand tears, which are the irresistible weapons of weakness? How often women, children, beggars, and sinners, have…
