Passage Research
Psalm 39 — Sermon Preparation
David resolves to hold his tongue but bursts out in a meditation on the brevity of life — every person is a mere breath — and pleads for one more chance. Below is a research summary for Psalm 39, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 14
- verses
- 129 / 99
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 13
- classic sermon excerpts
- 6
- preachers & commentators
Psalm 39 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֶבֶל | hebel | H1892 | 3 | emptiness, vanity |
| אָלַם | ʼâlam | H481 | 2 | tie, tongue-tied |
| יָדַע | yâdaʻ | H3045 | 3 | know, seeing |
| לָשׁוֹן | lâshôwn | H3956 | 2 | tongue |
| שָׁמַר | shâmar | H8104 | 2 | hedge, guard |
| פֶּה | peh | H6310 | 2 | mouth, blowing |
| אָדָם | ʼâdâm | H120 | 2 | ruddy, human being |
How preachers through history handled this text
13 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 39, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us; and a good man, for that reason, says nothing against it. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Psalm 39:7–30 (Public Domain)
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