Psalms 39:13
in Psalms 39Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more.
KJV
O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
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This verse in Psalms 39
Commentary
10 notes on this verseForgive me, so that I need no longer be a pilgrim and a wayfarer. Forgive me so that I may be called home from exile. If you forgive me, before I go from this place, I shall no longer be an exile and a pilgrim. Once you will have forgiven me, I will no longer be in foreign parts. I shall be a fellow citizen of your saints; I shall be with my ancestors, who were pilgrims before me and are now truly citizens. I shall be a member of God's household.
This site's exposition
a foreigner dwelling with You
on Psalms 39:12-13
He asks God to hear the prayer, the cry for help and the weeping. The ground of the plea is that he lives with God as a foreigner, a stranger as his fathers were. The same claim stands in David's prayer at 1 Chronicles 29:15.
This site's exposition
Turn Your gaze away from me
Albert Barnes explained the Hebrew as a plea for God to look away, since His eye seemed fixed on the psalmist in displeasure. Matthew Henry read the request as a prayer to be kept alive until grace had made him fit to go.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Grant me some remission, that I may be refreshed before I go hence" (ver. 13). Consider well, Idithun, consider what knots those are which thou wouldest have "loosed" unto thee, that thou mightest be "refreshed before thou goest hence." For thou hast certain fever-heats from which thou wouldest fain be refreshed, and thou sayest, "that I may be refreshed," and "grant me a remission." What should He remit, or loosen unto thee, save that difficulty under which, and in consequence of which, thou sayest, "Forgive us our debts. Grant me a remission before I go hence, and be no more." Set me free from my sins, "before I go hence," that I may not go hence with my sins. Remit them unto me, that I may be set at rest in my conscience, that it may be disburthened of its feverish anxiety, the anxiety with which "I am sorry for my sin. Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed" (before everything else), "before I go hence, and be no more." For if thou grantest me not a "remission, that I may be refreshed," I shall "go and be no more." "Before I go" thither, where if I go, I shall thenceforth "be no more. Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed." A question has suggested itself, how he will be no more. ...What is meant then by "shall be no more," unless Idithun is alluding to what is true "being," and what is not true "being." For he was beholding with the mind, with which he could do so, with the "mind's eye," by which he was able to behold it, that end, which he had desired to have shown unto him, saying, "Lord, make me to know mine end." He was beholding "the number of his days, which truly is;" and he observed that all that is below, in comparison of that true being, has no true being. […]
Grant me a little time that I may repent for my sins, for in hell no one has the power to confess his sins.
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Forgive me." Here he asks for the hastening of his being heard; as if to say: let what I ask be done quickly. And first he sets forth the effect of the petition; second he determines the time. Hence he says, "Forgive me," namely my …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But I rather take it as a pious prayer that God would continue him here till by his grace he had made him fit to go hence, and that he might finish the work of life before his life was finished.
O spare me,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
O spare me - Take me not from this state of probation till I have a thorough preparation for a state of blessedness. This he terms recovering his strength - being restored to the favor and image of God, from which he had fallen. This should be the daily cry of every human spirit: Restore me to thine image, guide me by thy counsel, and then reeeive me to thy glory!
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
O spare me - The word used here - from שׁעה shâ‛âh - means “to look;” and then, in connection with the preposition, “to look away from;” and it here means, “Look away from me;” that is, Do not come to inflict death on me. Preserve me. The idea is this: God seemed to have fixed his eyes on him, and to be pursuing him with the expressions of his displeasure (compare Job 16:9); and the psalmist now prays that he would “turn away his eyes,” and leave him. That I may recover strength - The word used here - בלג bâlag - means, in Arabic, to be bright; to shine forth; and then, to make cheerful, to enliven one’s countenance, or to be joyful, glad. In Job 9:27, it is rendered “comfort;” in Job 10:20, that I “may take comfort;” in Amo 5:9, “strengtheneth.” It is not used elsewhere. The idea is that of being “cheered up;” of being strengthened and invigorated before he should pass away. He wished to be permitted to recover the strength which he had lost, and especially to receive consolation, before he should leave the earth. He desired that his closing days might not be under a cloud, but that he might obtain brighter and more cheerful views, and have more of the consolations of religion before he should be removed finally from this world. It is a wish not to leave the world in gloom, or with gloomy and desponding views, but with a cheerful view of the past; with joyful confidence in the government of God; and with bright anticipations of the coming world. Before I go hence - Before I die. And be no more - Be no more upon the earth. Compare Psa 6:5, note; Psa 30:9, note. See also the notes at Job 14:1-12. Whatever may have been his views of the future world, he desired to be cheered and comforted in the prospect of passing away finally from earth. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
With rebukes that are written in the Torah for our iniquities that we have sinned before You and for which You chastised us.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָשַׁ֣ע | hasha' | smear | H8159 → | |
| מִמֶּ֣נִּי | mimeni | from me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| וְאַבְלִ֑יגָה | veavligah | so let me be cheerful | H1082 → | |
| בְּטֶ֖רֶם | beterem | <in> before | H2962 → | 56 times |
| אֵלֵ֣ךְ | ʾelekh | I will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃ | veeineni | and there not [will be] me | H369 → | 789 times |
הָשַׁ֣עsmear
hasha'H8159 →
מִמֶּ֣נִּיfrom me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
וְאַבְלִ֑יגָהso let me be cheerful
veavligahH1082 →
בְּטֶ֖רֶם<in> before
beteremH2962 →56 times
אֵלֵ֣ךְI will go
ʾelekhH1980 →1546 times
וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃and there not [will be] me
veeineniH369 →789 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 42:36Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”
it leads to
- Genesis 43:14
May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
- Romans 8:31
What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
- Isaiah 41:13–14
For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you.
- Isaiah 38:10
I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”
- Genesis 43:14
Through
Job 7:19Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?
it leads to
- Job 9:18
He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.
- Psalms 13:1–3
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
- Job 14:6
look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.
- Job 9:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 39; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Jerome, HOMILY ON PSALM 103[104]; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.