Psalms 39
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 39 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
14 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (2) follow the text.
Psalms 39
1(40) For the end, a Psalm of David.Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τῷ Δαυὶδ ψαλμός.
2I waited patiently for the Lord; and he attended to me, and listened to my supplication.Ὑπομένων ὑπέμεινα τὸν Κύριον, καὶ προσέσχε μοι, καὶ εἰσήκουσε τῆς δεήσεώς μου.
3And he brought me up out of a pit of misery, and from miry clay: and he set my feet on a rock, and ordered my goings aright.Καὶ ἀνήγαγέ με ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας, καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ ἰλύος· καὶ ἔστησεν ἐπὶ πέτραν τοὺς πόδας μου, καὶ κατεύθυνε τὰ διαβήματά μου.
4And he put a new song into my mouth, even a hymn to our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall hope in the Lord.Καὶ ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου ᾆσμα καινὸν, ὕμνον τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν· ὄψονται πολλοὶ καὶ φοβηθήσονται, καὶ ἐλπιοῦσιν ἐπὶ Κύριον.
5Blessed is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and who has not regarded vanities and false frenzies.Μακάριος ἀνὴρ, οὗ ἐστι τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἐπέβλεψεν εἰς ματαιότητας καὶ μανίας ψευδεῖς.
6O Lord my God, you have multiplied your wonderful works, and in your thoughts there is none who shall be likened to you: I declared and spoke of them: they exceeded number.Πολλὰ ἐποίησας σὺ Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου τὰ θαυμάσιά σου, καὶ τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς σου οὐκ ἔστι τίς ὁμοιωθήσεταί σοι· ἀπήγγειλα καὶ ἐλάλησα, ἐπληθύνθησαν ὑπὲρ ἀριθμόν.
7✡ Sacrifice and offering you would not; but a body have you prepared me: whole burnt offering and sacrifice for sin you did not require.Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι· ὁλοκαύτωμα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ᾔτησας.
8Then I said, Behold, I * come: in the volume of the book it is written concerning me,Τότε εἶπον, ἰδοὺ ἥκω· ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου γέγραπται περὶ ἐμοῦ,
9I desired to do your will, O my God, and your law in the midst of my heart.τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημά σου ὁ Θεός μου ἠβουλήθην, καὶ τὸν νόμον σου ἐν μέσῳ τῆς καρδίας μου.
10I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; behold! I will not refrain my lips; O Lord, you know my righteousness.Εὐηγγελισάμην δικαιοσύνην ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ μεγάλῃ, ἰδοὺ τὰ χείλη μου οὐ μὴ κωλύσω. Κύριε, σὺ ἔγνως
11I have not hid your truth within my heart, and I have declared your salvation; I have not hid your mercy and your truth from the great congregation.τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου, οὐκ ἔκρυψα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου, καὶ τὸ σωτήριόν σου εἶπα· οὐκ ἔκρυψα τὸ ἔλεός σου καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ἀπὸ συναγωγῆς πολλῆς.
12But you, Lord, remove not your compassion far from me; your mercy and your truth have helped me continually.Σὺ δέ Κύριε μὴ μακρύνῃς τοὺς οἰκτιρμούς σου ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, τὸ ἔλεός σου καὶ ἡ ἀλήθειά σου διαπαντὸς ἀντελάβοντό μου.
13For innumerable evils have encompassed me; my transgressions have taken hold of me, and I could not see; they are multiplied more than the hairs of my head; and my heart has failed me.Ὅτι περιέσχον με κακὰ, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμὸς, κατέλαβόν με αἱ ἀνομίαι μου, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνάσθην τοῦ βλέπειν· ἐπληθύνθησαν ὑπὲρ τὰς τρίχας τῆς κεφαλῆς μου, καὶ ἡ καρδία μου ἐγκατέλιπέ με.
14Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, draw near to help me.Εὐδόκησον Κύριε τοῦ ῥύσασθαί με, Κύριε εἰς τὸ βοηθῆσαί μοι πρόσχες.
15Let those that seek my soul, to destroy it, be ashamed and confounded together; let those that wish me evil be turned backward and put to shame.Καταισχυνθείησαν καὶ ἐντραπείησαν ἅμα οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν ψυχήν μου, τοῦ ἐξάραι αὐτήν· ἀποστραφείησαν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, καὶ ἐντραπείησαν οἱ θέλοντές μοι κακά.
16Let those that say to me, Aha, aha, quickly receive shame for their reward.Κομισάσθωσαν παραχρῆμα αἰσχύνην αὐτῶν, οἱ λέγοντές μοι, εὖγε, εὖγε.
17Let all those that seek you, O Lord, exult and rejoice in you; and let them that love your salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.Ἀγαλλιάσαιντο καὶ εὐφρανθείησαν ἐπὶ σοὶ πάντες οἱ ζητοῦντές σε Κύριε· καὶ εἰπάτωσαν διαπαντὸς, μεγαλυνθήτω ὁ Κύριος, οἱ ἀγαπῶντες τὸ σωτήριόν σου.
18But I am poor and needy; the Lord will take care of me; you are my helper, and my defender, O my God, delay not.Ἐγὼ δὲ πτωχὸς καὶ πένης εἰμὶ, Κύριος φροντιεῖ μου· βοηθός μου καὶ ὑπερασπιστής μου εἶ σὺ ὁ Θεός μου, μὴ χρονίσῃς.
Translator's Notes
These notes come from the printed edition of Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), and record where the Greek differs from the English rendering or admits more than one reading.
- v. 6✡Heb 10:5-6
- v. 7*Or, am come.
The Fathers on Psalms 39
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 39:2Saint Augustine of Hippo2. Let us say then what this Psalm says. “I waited patiently for the Lord” (ver. 1). I waited patiently for the promise of no mere mortal who can both deceive and be himself deceived: I waited for the consolation of no mere mortal, who may be consumed by sorrow of his own, before he gives me comfort. Should a brother mortal attempt to comfort me, when he himself is in sorrow likewise? Let us mourn in company; let…
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On Psalms 39:3Saint Augustine of Hippo3. And what hath He accomplished for thee? What hath He done for thee? “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (ver. 2). He hath given us great blessings already: and still He is our debtor; but let him who hath this part of the debt repaid already, believe that the rest will be also, seeing that he ought to have believed even…
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On Psalms 39:4Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “And He hath put a new song in my mouth.” What new song is this? “Even a hymn unto our God” (ver. 3). Perhaps you used to sing hymns to strange gods; old hymns, because they were uttered by the “old man,” not by the “new man;” let the “new man” be formed, and let him sing a “new song;” being himself made “new,” let him love those “new” things by which he is himself made new. For what is more Ancient than God,…
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On Psalms 39:5Saint Augustine of Hippo7. “Blessed is that man that maketh the name of the Lord his trust, and hath not respected vanities or lying madnesses” (ver. 4). Behold the way by which thou wouldest fain have gone. Behold the “multitude that fill the Broad way.” It is not without reason “that” road leads to the amphitheatre. It is not without reason it leads to Death. The “broad way” leads unto death, its breadth delights for time: its end is…
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On Psalms 39:6Saint Augustine of Hippo9. We will give him other sights in exchange for such sights as these. And what sights shall we present to the Christian, whom we would fain divert from those sights? I thank the Lord our God; He in the following verse of the Psalm hath shown us what sights we ought to present and offer to spectators who would fain have sights to see? Let us now suppose him to be weaned from the circus, the theatre, the…
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On Psalms 39:7Saint Augustine of Hippo12. “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire” (ver. 6), saith the Psalm to God. For the men of old time, when as yet the true Sacrifice, which is known to the faithful, was foreshown in figures, used to celebrate rites that were figures of the reality that was to be hereafter; many of them understanding their meaning; but more of them in ignorance of it. For the Prophets and the holy Patriarchs understood…
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On Psalms 39:8Saint Augustine of Hippo13. “Burnt-offerings also for sin hast Thou not required.” “Then said I, Lo, I come!” (ver. 7). It is time that what “was promised should come;” because the signs, by means of which they were promised, have been put away. And indeed, Brethren, observe these put away; those fulfilled. Let the Jewish nation at this time show me their priest, if they can! Where are their sacrifices? They are brought to an end; they…
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On Psalms 39:9Saint Augustine of Hippo14. “In the head of the Book it is written of me, that I should fulfil Thy will: O my God, I am willing, and Thy Law is within my heart” (ver. 8). Behold! He turns His regards to His members. Behold! He hath Himself “fulfilled the will” of the Father. But in what “beginning of a Book” is it written of Him? Perhaps in the beginning of this Book of Psalms. For why should we seek far for it, or examine into other…
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On Psalms 39:10Saint Augustine of Hippo15. “I have well declared Thy righteousness in the great congregation” (ver. 9). He now addresses His members. He is exhorting them to do what He has already done. He has “declared;” let us declare also. He has suffered; let us “suffer with Him.” He has been glorified; we shall be “glorified with Him.” “I have declared Thy righteousness in the great congregation.” How great an one is that? In all the world. How…
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On Psalms 39:11Saint Augustine of Hippo16. “I have not hid my righteousness within my heart” (ver. 10). What is meant by “my righteousness”? My faith. For, “the just shall live by faith.” As suppose the persecutor under threat of punishment, as they were once allowed to do, puts you to the question, “What art thou? Pagan or Christian?” “A Christian.” That is his “righteousness.” He believeth; he “lives by faith.” He doth not “hide his righteousness…
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On Psalms 39:12–13Saint Augustine of Hippo19. “Remove not Thou Thy mercies far from me, O Lord” (ver. 11). He is turning his attention to the wounded members. Because I have not “concealed Thy mercy and Thy Truth from the great congregation,” from the Unity of the Universal Church, look Thou on Thy afflicted members, look on those who are guilty of sins of omission, and on those who are guilty of sins of commission: and withhold not Thou Thy mercies.…
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On Psalms 39:14Saint Augustine of Hippo22. “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me” (ver. 13). As if he were saying, “‘If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.’ Be pleased to deliver me. O Lord, look upon me to help me.” Look, that is, on the penitent members, members that lie in pain, members that are writhing under the instruments of the surgeon; but still in hope.
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On Psalms 39:15Saint Augustine of Hippo23. “Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it” (ver. 14). For in a certain passage he makes an accusation, and says, “I looked upon my right hand, and beheld; and there was no man who sought after my soul;” that is, there was no man to imitate Mine example. Christ in His Passion is the Speaker. “I looked on my right hand,” that is, not on the ungodly Jews, but on Mine own…
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On Psalms 39:16–17Open Psalms 39 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo25. “Let them speedily bear away their own confusion, that say unto me, Well done! Well done!” (ver. 15). They praise you without reason. “A great man! A good man! A man of education and of learning; but why a Christian?” They praise those things in you which you should wish not to be praised; they find fault with that at which you rejoice. But if perhaps you say, “What is it you praise in me, O man? That I am a…
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