68 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 39 To the chief Musician, [even] to Jeduthun, a Psalm of David. Some take Jeduthun to be the name of a musical instrument, as Jarchi, on which, and others the first word of a song, to the tune of which, this psalm was sung, as Aben Ezra; though it seems best, with Kimchi and others, to understand it as the name of the chief...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I said,.... That is, in his heart; he purposed and determined within himself to do as follows; and he might express it with his mouth, and so his purpose became a promise; I will take heed to my ways; as every good man should; that is, to all his actions, conduct, and conversation: it becomes him to take heed what ways he walks in; that they are...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
David seems to have been in a great strait when he penned this psalm, and, upon some account or other, very uneasy; for it is with some difficulty that he conquers his passion, and composes his spirit himself to take that good counsel which he had given to others (xxxvii.) to rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, without fretting; for it...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I said, I will take heed to my ways, It is not everybody who would like to recollect what he has uttered; but David could remember and dwell upon what he had formerly said: “I said, I will take heed to my ways.” That is a good thing to do. He that does not take heed to his ways had need do so. Heedless and careless, and heedless and graceless, are...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I said, “I thought it, and at last I said it. I resolved; I determined upon it; and I registered the vow.” Psa_39:1. I will take heed to my ways, Men never go right by accident, he who is heedless is graceless. A holy life is a life that comes of taking heed. Psa_39:1. That I sin not with my tongue: He who keeps his tongue can keep all the rest of...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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. This is what David said; what he had deliberately resolved upon and solemnly determined in his own mind: “I said, I will take heed to my ways.” That is a good thing for all of us to resolve and to say: “I will take...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue:-- This government of the tongue is a most important part of our ways; it in a very essential part of holy discipline, yet we have heard of one saint who said that he had lived for seventy years, and had tried to control his tongue, but that he had only begun to understand the art...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. I said. I steadily resolved and registered a determination. In his great perplexity his greatest fear was lest he should sin; and, therefore, he cast about for the most likely method for avoiding it, and he determined to be silent. It is right excellent when a man can strengthen himself in a good course by the remembrance of a well and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I was dumb with silence,.... Quite silent, as if he had been a dumb man, and could not speak; so he was before men, especially wicked men, and under the afflicting hand of God; see Psalms 39:9; thus he put his resolution into practice; I held my peace, [even] from good; that is, he said neither good nor bad: this expresses the greatness of his...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I was dumb with silence, “I did not speak, I could not speak: ‘I was dumb with silence.’” Psa_39:2. I held my peace, even from good; David’s conduct proves that, even when we are doing something which is right, we are apt to overdo it, and so we stray into a vice while pursuing a virtue. You can run so close to the heels of a virtue that they may...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I was dumb with silence, Ah, me! How often we do wrong even when we try to do right! He tried not to sin with his tongue, so he was silent, but silence itself may be a sin of the tongue. God forgive our idle silence, and silence our idle words! I do not think we often sin this way; but silence may sometimes be more wicked than speech even though...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I was dumb with silence, — “I was as silent as if I had been dumb. I did not say a word.” It seems to me that this silence of the psalmist was partly sullen and partly judicious: “I was dumb with silence,” — Psa_39:2. I held my peace, even from good; — He was a total abstainer from all speech. Perhaps he felt that he could not speak a little...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. We all know that, unless our grief can find expression, it swells and grows till our heart is ready to break. We have heard of a wise physician who bade a man in great trouble weep as much as ever he could. “Do not restrain your grief,” he said, “but let it all...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My heart was hot within me,.... Either with zeal for God; or rather with envy at the prosperity of wicked men, and with impatience at his own afflictions; while I was musing the fire burned; not the fire of the divine word, while he was meditating upon it, which caused his heart to burn within him; nor the fire of divine love, the coals whereof...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: There was an inward friction, his griefs kept revolving till his heart grew hot; this heat generated fire, which burned so vehemently that, at last, the psalmist could not help himself, and he was obliged to speak. Psa_39:3. Then spake I with my tongue, Whether rightly or wrongly, he...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
My heart was hot within me, The fire was kept in his heart; it was not allowed space to break forth, so his heart was hot as an oven. Psa_39:3. While I was musing the fire burned: He grew so hot with grief, that he was compelled to speak. Psa_39:3. Then spake I with my tongue, I am not sure that he did not sin then. We sin if we are silent, and we...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: — While he was musing, his heart was fusing, and there was much that was most confusing to him. He saw the prosperity of the wicked, and the oppression of the righteous. He heard the reproaches of the ungodly, and he felt the stings of affliction and trial in his own soul. So, as he...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, He could not hold his peace any longer; it would have been well if he had done so, for he uttered an unwise prayer when be spake with his tongue.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lord, make me to know mine end,.... Not Christ, the end of the law for righteousness, as Jerom interprets it; nor how long he should live, how many days, months, and years more; for though they are known of God, they are not to be known by men; but either the end of his afflictions, or his, latter end, his mortal state, that he might be more...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
LORD, If you must speak, address your words to the Lord. So David does, he does not speak to the wicked, but he prays to God most holy. Psa_39:4. Make me to know mine end, Did he wish to die? Perhaps so; you remember that one of the two men who never died once prayed that he might die. Elijah did so; and David does so here, I think, if I put a...