Fathers

Psalms 39

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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. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 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. 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. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 39:10

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Remove Your stroke away from me" [Psalm 39:10]. Because it is "Thou that hast made me," let it not be Your pleasure to destroy me utterly; scourge, so that I may be made better, not so that I faint; beat me, so that I may be beaten out to a greater length and breadth, not so that I may be ground to powder. "By the heaviness of Your hand I fainted in corrections." That is, I "fainted" while You were correcting me. And what is meant by "correcting" me? Except what follows.

Exposition on Psalm 39 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

The strong hand strikes as though harshly, but it is swift to heal. If it is powerful to wound, it is also powerful when it comes to applying a remedy. As the Lord says, "I will strike, and I will heal." … This hand of the Lord took from Job all that he had and gave it all back again. In fact, he greatly added to Job's store of good things, even doubling what he had before. Do not be troubled because David says he has fainted. A person can faint and rise up stronger than before. …

Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms ↗

Thomas Aquinas

His second petition is about the removal of punishment. And first he sets forth the petition; second the reason for the petition. He says, "Remove from me your scourges," that is, your chastisements. And this can be explained in two ways. Either concerning bodily chastisements—and these are external, such as scourges and other adversities by which a man is chastised by God for his sins. Jer. 30: "I have struck you with the wound of an enemy." Therefore, remove these scourges from me. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗