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 39:9

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"I became dumb; and I opened not my mouth" [Psalm 39:9]. But it was to guard against "the foolish man," that "I became dumb, and opened not my mouth." For to whom should I tell what is going on within me? "For I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me; for He will speak peace unto His people." But "There is no peace," says the Lord, "to the wicked." [Isaiah 48:22] "I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; because it is Thou that made me." Was this the reason that you opened not your mouth, "because God made you"? …

Exposition on Psalm 39 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

The patience he had, he shows when he says, "I was dumb." A sign of patience is that when words of reproach are brought against a man, he does not return evil for evil, as Christ, 1 Pet. 2: "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return." And therefore he says, "I was dumb and did not open my mouth." And this can be referred to two things. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗