Fathers

Psalms 39

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I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.” I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue: “Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am. Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather. Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it. Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand. When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were. Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 39:8

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Deliver me from all my transgressions" [Psalm 39:8]. I have "over-leaped" a great deal of ground, a very great deal of ground already; but, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us." I have "over-leaped" a great deal: but still do I "beat my breast," and say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Thou therefore art "my expectation!" my "End." For "Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness, unto every man that believeth." From all mine offences: not only from those, that I …

Exposition on Psalm 39 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

It is not merely one lapse that he is confessing, for he prays to be forgiven all his iniquities. He knows that without God's forgiveness no one can be saved. For we were born in sin. We have inherited a stain. Our human condition has a congenital tendency to sin.

Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"From all." Above, the Psalmist set forth the confidence he had in God when he said, "And now, what is my expectation," etc.; here, however, he sets before God his petition. And concerning this he does three things. First he asks God for the removal of guilt. Second he asks for the removal of punishment. Third he assigns the reason for the conjunction of these petitions. The second, at "Remove." The third, at "On account of iniquity." Concerning the first he does two things. First he makes his petition. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗