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1 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. 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, 4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 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. 6 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. 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 11 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. 12 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. 13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
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[AD 390] Diodorus of Tarsus on Psalms 39:1
“I said” [has] the sense, “I determined,” his meaning being, I determined within myself not to sin against my oppressor simply in action but also not to say anything against him by word of mouth, especially since what is initially verbal abuse turns to physical abuse, and the person who is determined not to do physical harm ought not have recourse to verbal abuse.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:1
Have no doubt about it, when people annoy and torment you when you are doing the right thing, those people are the lackeys of the wickedest sinner of all. They are slaves of the author of every evil deed. David saw this with prophetic eyes and recognized the face of the evil one. So he kept quiet. He had no wish whatever to do the will of the evil one. So he kept quiet. He had no wish whatever to do the will of him who ruins one’s peace of mind. He simply said nothing. He closed his doors in silence; patience lay before him, and silence kept a sleepless vigil. No enemy could creep in, and from his cloistered lips no ambivalent speech, no heedless talk, could issue forth. Mightier far is the patient person who can govern himself than the valiant one who captures citadels. The just person is his own cloister; he is his own eternal guard.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:6
[AD 428] Theodore of Mopsuestia on Psalms 39:1
It is a universal custom to be upset when you see your plans at the mercy of sinners, and to be upset also at your own misfortunes, especially when you are badly treated by wrongdoers while conscious of your own virtuous behavior. The general run of people react to such developments by turning to criticism and displeasure with the God of all. Hence, blessed David says, “I shall guard my ways so as not to sin with my tongue”: I kept my words to myself, that is, I made a decision and judgment to guard myself against any sin.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 39:2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:1
"I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue" [Psalm 39:1]....For it is not without reason that the tongue is set in a moist place, but because it is so prone to slip. Perceiving therefore how hard it was for a man to be under the necessity of speaking, and not to say something that he will wish unsaid, and filled with disgust at these sins, he seeks to avoid the like. To this difficulty is he exposed who is seeking to "leap beyond."...Although I have "leaped beyond" the pleasures of earth, although the fleeting passions for things temporal ensnare me not, though now I despise these things below, and am rising up to better things than these, yet in these very better things the satisfaction of knowledge in the sight of God is enough for me. Of what use is it for me to speak what is to be laid hold of, and to give a handle to cavillers? Therefore, "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I keep my mouth with a bridle." Wherefore is this? Is it on account of the religious, the thoughtful, the faithful, the holy ones? God forbid! These persons hear in such a manner, as to praise what they approve; but as for what they disapprove, perhaps, among much that they praise they rather excuse than cavil at it; on account of what persons then do you "take heed to your ways," and place a guard on your lips "that you may not sin with your tongue"? Hear: it is, "While the wicked stands over against me." It is not "by me" that he takes up his station, but "against me." Why?...Even the Lord Himself says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." [John 16:12] And the Apostle, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." [1 Corinthians 3:1] Yet not as to persons to be despaired of, but as to those who still required to be nourished. For he goes on to say, "As babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto you were not able." Well, tell it unto us even now. "Neither yet now are you able." [1 Corinthians 3:2] Be not therefore impatient to hear that which as yet you are not capable of; but grow that you may be "able to bear it." It is thus we address the little one, who yet requires to be fed with kindly milk in the bosom of Mother Church, and to be rendered meet for the "strong meat" of the Lord's Table. But what can I say even of that kind to the sinner, who "takes his stand against me," who either thinks or pretends himself capable of what he "cannot bear;" so that when I say anything unto him, and he has failed to comprehend it, he should not suppose that it was not he that had failed to comprehend, but I who had broken down. Therefore because of this sinner, who "takes up his stand against me, I keep my mouth as it were with a bridle."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:2
If you know there is sin, be silent. Do not add to your guilt by denying it. If you are not aware of sin, be silent. You are secure in your innocence. The reports of other people cannot nail any sin to a conscience that knows itself to be innocent.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:13
[AD 399] Evagrius Ponticus on Psalms 39:2
In temptation, good words flee from us and the spirit is silent. The soul speaks about those temptations that it recognizes and is silent about those it does not. In this place “good” indicates the virtues and knowledge that flee in the time of temptation.

Source: NOTES ON THE PSALMS 38[39].3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:2
"I became deaf, and was humbled, I held my peace from good" [Psalm 39:2]. For this person, who is "leaping beyond," suffers some difficulty in a certain stage to which he has already attained; and he desires to advance beyond, even from thence, to avoid this difficulty. I was afraid of committing a sin; so that I spoke not; that I imposed on myself the necessity of silence: for I had spoken thus, "I will take heed to my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue." Whilst I was too much afraid of saying anything wrong, I kept silence from all that is good. For whence could I say good things, except that I heard them? "It is Thou that shall make me to hear of joy and gladness." And the "friend of the bridegroom stands and hears Him, and rejoices on account of the bridegroom's voice," [John 3:29] not his own. That he may speak true things, he hears what he is to say. For it is he that "speaks a lie," that "speaks of his own." [John 8:44] ...When therefore I had "put a bridle," as it were, "on my lips;" and constrained myself to silence, because I saw that everywhere speech was dangerous, then, says he, that came to pass upon me, which I did not wish, "I became deaf, and was humbled;" not humbled myself, but was humbled; "and I held my peace even from good." Whilst afraid of saying any evil, I began to refrain from speaking what is good: and I condemned my determination; for "I was holding my peace even from what is good."

"And my sorrow was stirred up again" [Psalm 39:2]. Inasmuch as I had found in silence a kind of respite from a certain "sorrow," that had been inflicted upon me by those who cavilled at my words, and found fault with me: and that sorrow that was caused by the cavillers, had ceased indeed; but when "I held my peace even from good, my sorrow was stirred up again." I began to be more grieved at having refrained from saying what I ought to have said, than I had before been grieved by having said what I ought not. "And my sorrow was stirred up again."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:2
"I became deaf, and was humbled, I held my peace from good" [Psalm 39:2]. For this person, who is "leaping beyond," suffers some difficulty in a certain stage to which he has already attained; and he desires to advance beyond, even from thence, to avoid this difficulty. I was afraid of committing a sin; so that I spoke not; that I imposed on myself the necessity of silence: for I had spoken thus, "I will take heed to my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue." Whilst I was too much afraid of saying anything wrong, I kept silence from all that is good. For whence could I say good things, except that I heard them? "It is Thou that shall make me to hear of joy and gladness." And the "friend of the bridegroom stands and hears Him, and rejoices on account of the bridegroom's voice," [John 3:29] not his own. That he may speak true things, he hears what he is to say. For it is he that "speaks a lie," that "speaks of his own." [John 8:44] ...When therefore I had "put a bridle," as it were, "on my lips;" and constrained myself to silence, because I saw that everywhere speech was dangerous, then, says he, that came to pass upon me, which I did not wish, "I became deaf, and was humbled;" not humbled myself, but was humbled; "and I held my peace even from good." Whilst afraid of saying any evil, I began to refrain from speaking what is good: and I condemned my determination; for "I was holding my peace even from what is good."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 435] John Cassian on Psalms 39:2
If insults are offered to you or to anyone else, or wrongs done, be immovable, and as far as an answer in retaliation is concerned, be silent “as one that is dumb,” always singing in your heart this verse of the psalmist.

Source: INSTITUTES 4:41
[AD 450] Hesychius of Jerusalem on Psalms 39:2
When he was silent he ceased from good, that is, from the meditation of the Law, which is the teacher of good. When the grief of the sin renewed, the wound from sin became more serious, as when we lead others from meditation on the Law. It becomes a festering sore, having applied no medicine from divine precepts. And so he has not stood in silence, but when he had returned to his senses, he cast out that very thing bringing such harm to his spirit. He shows this by “my heart grew hot.”

Source: Large COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 39:3
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Psalms 39:3
In the Gospel it was written, after the Lord spoke to Cleopas, “Was not our heart burning within us when he opened the Scriptures to us?” Where will you burn? Where will “the coals of fire” be found in you who are never set on fire by the declaration of the Lord, never inflamed by the words of the Holy Spirit? Hear also … David … saying, “My heart burned within me, and in my meditation fire became inflamed.” From where do you glow? Where is the fire kindled in you?

Source: HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 9:9.7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:3
"And while I was musing, the fire burned" [Psalm 39:3]....I reflected on the words of my Lord, "Thou wicked and slothful servant, you ought to have put My money to the exchangers, and I at My coming should receive it again with usury." [Matthew 25:26-27] And that which follows may God avert from those who are His stewards! Bind him hand and foot, and let him be cast into outer darkness; [Matthew 25:30] the servant, who was not a waster of his master's goods, so as to destroy them, but was slothful in laying them out to improve them. What ought they to expect, who have wasted them in luxury, if they are condemned who through slothfulness have kept them? "As I was musing, the fire burned." And as he was in this state of wavering suspense, between speaking and holding his peace, between those who are prepared to cavil and those who are anxious to be instructed,...in this state of suspense, he prays for a better place, a place different from this his present stewardship, in which man is in such difficulty and in such danger, and sighing after a certain "end," when he was not to be subject to these things, when the Lord is to say to the faithful dispenser, "Enter thou into the joy of your Lord," [Matthew 25:27] he says, "Then spoke I with my tongue." In this fluctuation, in the midst of these dangers and these difficulties, because, that in consequence of the abundance of offenses "the love of many is waxing cold," [Matthew 24:12] although the law of the Lord inspires delight, in this fluctuation then, (I say), "then spoke I with my tongue." To whom? Not to the hearer whom I would fain instruct; but to Him who hears and takes heed also, by whom I would fain be instructed myself. "I spoke with my tongue" to Him, from whom I inwardly hear whatever I hear that is good or true.— What did You say?

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:3-4
"And while I was musing, the fire burned" [Psalm 39:3]....I reflected on the words of my Lord, "Thou wicked and slothful servant, you ought to have put My money to the exchangers, and I at My coming should receive it again with usury." [Matthew 25:26-27] And that which follows may God avert from those who are His stewards! Bind him hand and foot, and let him be cast into outer darkness; [Matthew 25:30] the servant, who was not a waster of his master's goods, so as to destroy them, but was slothful in laying them out to improve them. What ought they to expect, who have wasted them in luxury, if they are condemned who through slothfulness have kept them? "As I was musing, the fire burned." And as he was in this state of wavering suspense, between speaking and holding his peace, between those who are prepared to cavil and those who are anxious to be instructed,...in this state of suspense, he prays for a better place, a place different from this his present stewardship, in which man is in such difficulty and in such danger, and sighing after a certain "end," when he was not to be subject to these things, when the Lord is to say to the faithful dispenser, "Enter thou into the joy of your Lord," [Matthew 25:27] he says, "Then spoke I with my tongue." In this fluctuation, in the midst of these dangers and these difficulties, because, that in consequence of the abundance of offenses "the love of many is waxing cold," [Matthew 24:12] although the law of the Lord inspires delight, in this fluctuation then, (I say), "then spoke I with my tongue." To whom? Not to the hearer whom I would fain instruct; but to Him who hears and takes heed also, by whom I would fain be instructed myself. "I spoke with my tongue" to Him, from whom I inwardly hear whatever I hear that is good or true.— What did You say?

"Lord, make me to know mine end" [Psalm 39:4]. For some things I have passed by already; and I have arrived at a certain point, and that to which I have arrived is better than that from which I have advanced to this; but yet there remains a point, which has to be left behind. For we are not to remain here, where there are trials, offenses, where we have to bear with persons who listen to us and cavil at us. "Make me to know mine end;" the end, from which I am still removed, not the course which is already before me.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 390] Diodorus of Tarsus on Psalms 39:4
Not even all the possessions amassed nor all humankind, if measured by their lifetime, from Adam to the last human being—not even this measure is anything in comparison with the measure of your life, Lord.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:4
It is not that he was enquiring about his own death—death is not the end of one who will rise again—but rather his enquiry concerned that end of which the apostle speaks: “Afterwards there will be the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father”. … Evil will fade to nothingness, and eternal good will take its place.… That, surely, is the true end. It is not the end of one person alone, but the end of all. Why then does David say “my end”? But consider a moment who it is that is speaking. He speaks as humankind or as one representing men and sharing the same substance as they; he is one who stands for all, is in the likeness of all and is truly versed in that perfection that belongs to the consummate man.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:16
[AD 399] Evagrius Ponticus on Psalms 39:4
The end of the rational nature is the understanding of the holy Trinity.

Source: NOTES ON THE PSALMS 38[39].5
[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on Psalms 39:5
Such, brothers, is our life, we whose existence is so transitory. Such is the game we play on earth: we do not exist, and we are born, and being born we are dissolved. We are a fleeting dream, an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace on the sea. We are dust, a vapor, the morning dew, a flower growing but a moment and withering in a moment. “A person’s days are as grass: as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish.” Beautifully has holy David meditated on our weakness … and he defines the days of a person as the measure of a span. ON HIS BROTHER ST.

Source: CAESARIUS, ORATION 7:19
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:5
God, who knows precisely the allotted days of each one of us, regards nothing as immeasurable. His knowledge embraces the measure of all things. To him nothing is beyond his understanding, nothing is unweighed, nothing is unmeasured, nothing is unnumbered. He says, “The very hairs of your head have been numbered.” … We know that God is said to have measured the heavens with the palm of his hand22—the palm, from thumb to little finger, being the span by which a thing is measured and its length ascertained. Those who accept this reading understand that our days are measured or numbered, and in that sense they are short. However, the all-knowing God has measured, as we said above, and fully comprehends the very heavens.… The prophet’s days are not short but great, for God has measured them with the same palm as that with which he measured the heavens.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:20-21
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:5
"Behold, you have made my days old" [Psalm 39:5]. For these days are "waxing old." I long for new days "that never shall wax old," that I may say, "Old things have passed away; behold, things have become new." [2 Corinthians 5:17] Already new in hope; then in reality. For though, in hope and in faith, made new already, how much do we even now do after our old nature! For we are not so completely "clothed upon" with Christ, as not to bear about with us anything derived from Adam. Observe that Adam is "waxing old" within us, and Christ is being "renewed" in us. "Though our outward man is perishing, yet is our inward man being renewed day by day." [2 Corinthians 4:16] Therefore, while we fix our thoughts on sin, on mortality, on time, that is hastening by, on sorrow, and toil, and labour, on stages of life following each other in succession, and continuing not, passing on insensibly from infancy even to old age; while, I say, we fix our eyes on these things, let us see here "the old man," the "day that is waxing old;" the Song that is out of date; the Old Testament; when however we turn to the inner man, to those things that are to be renewed in place of these which are to be changed, let us find the "new man," the "new day," the "new song," the "New Testament;" and that "newness," let us so love, as to have no fears of its "waxing old."...This man, therefore, who is hasting forward to those things which are new, and "reaching forward to those things which are before," says, "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, which really is, that I may know what is wanting unto me." See he still drags with him Adam; and even so he is hasting unto Christ. "Behold," says he, "you have made my days old." It is those days that are derived from Adam, those days, I say, that you have made old. They are waxing old day by day: and so waxing old, as to be at some day or other consumed also. "And my substance is as nothing before You." "Before You, O Lord, my substance is as nothing." "Before You;" who see this; and I too, when I see it, see it only when "before You."

When "before men" I see it not. For what shall I say? What words shall I use to show, that which I now am is nothing in comparison of That which truly " IS"? But it is within that it is said; it is within that it is felt, so far as it is felt. "Before You, O Lord," where Your eyes are; and not where the eyes of men are. And where Your eyes are, what is the state of things? "That which I am is as nothing."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:5
Mortal life is a harsh condition. What else is its birth but an entry into a life of toil? Even the infant’s cry bears witness to the toil that awaits it. From this burdensome banquet no one is excused. We must drink of the chalice that Adam has filled for us. We have been fashioned by the hands of Truth; yet, on account of sin, we were cast out in the day of vanity. We have been fashioned to the image of God, but we have marred that image by sinful transgression. Thus the psalm reminds us how we have been made and to what state we have fallen.

Source: SERMON 60:2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:6
"Albeit man walks in the Image" [Psalm 39:6]. In what "Image," save that of Him who said, "Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness." [Genesis 1:26] "Albeit man walks in the Image." For the reason he says "albeit," is, that this is some great thing. And this "albeit" is followed by "nevertheless," that the "albeit" which you have already heard, should relate to what is beyond the sun; but this "nevertheless," which is to follow, to what is "under the sun," and that the one should relate to the Truth, the other to "vanity." "Albeit," then, "that man walks in the Image, nevertheless he is disquieted in vain." Hear the cause of his "disquieting," and see if it be not a vain one; that you may trample it under foot, that you may "leap beyond it," and may dwell on high, where that "vanity" is not. What "vanity" is that? "He heaps up riches, and knows not for whom he may be gathering them together." O infatuated vanity! "Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust, and has not respected vanities, nor lying deceits." To you indeed, O covetous man, to you I seem to be out of my senses, these words appear to you to be "old wives' tales." For you, a man of great judgment, and of great prudence, to be sure, are daily devising methods of acquiring money, by traffic, by agriculture, by eloquence perhaps, by making yourself learned in the law, by warfare, perhaps you even add that of usury. Like a shrewd man as you are, you leave nothing untried, whereby you may pile coin on coin; and may store it up more carefully in a place of secrecy. You plunder others; you guard against the plunderer; you are afraid lest you should yourself suffer the wrong, that you yourself do; and even what you do suffer, does not correct you....Examine your own heart, and that prudence of yours, which leads you to deride me, to think me out of my senses for saying these things: and tell me now, "You are heaping up treasures; for whom are you gathering them together?" I see what you would tell me; as if what you would say had not occurred to the person described here; you will say, I am keeping them for my children? This is the voice of parental affection; the excuse of injustice. "I am keeping them" (you say) "for my children." So then you are keeping them for your children, are you? Did not Idithun then know this? Assuredly he did; but he reckoned it one of the things of the "old days," that have waxed old, and therefore he despised it: because he was hastening on to the new "days."...

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Psalms 39:7
We will have to say that if we give in to troubles, we do not believe in him insofar as he is endurance; and if we are weak, we have not believed in him insofar as he is strength.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 19:157
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:7
Our hope and our patience is Christ; he is our redemption; he is our expectation.… Look on us, Lord, when you come in judgment; let your mercy look on us.… In the power of your mercy lies the substance of our soul and life. We must not fear physical death; rather, we should fear him who can save or destroy our soul. Our soul’s substance is that virtue that God has poured into hearts made in the image of himself.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:28
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:7
"And now" [Psalm 39:7]. "And now," says this Idithun,— looking back on a certain "vain" show, and looking up to a certain Truth, standing midway where he has something beyond him, and something also behind him, having below him the place from which he took his spring, having above him that toward which he has stretched forth—"And now," when I have "over-leaped" some things, when I have trampled many things under foot, when I am no longer captivated by things temporal; even now, I am not perfect, "I have not yet apprehended." [Philippians 3:13] "For it is by hope that we are saved; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." [Romans 8:24-25] Therefore he says: "And now what wait I for? Is it not for the Lord?" He is my expectation, who has given me all those things, that I might despise them. He will give unto me Himself also, even He who is above all, and "by whom all things were made," [Colossians 1:16] and by whom I was made among all; even He, the Lord, is my Expectation! You see Idithun, brethren, you see in what way he waits for Him! Let no man therefore call himself perfect here; he deceives and imposes upon himself; he is beguiling himself, he cannot have perfection here, and what avails it that he should lose humility?...

"And my substance is ever before You." Already advancing, already tending towards Him, and to some extent already beginning to "be," still (he says ) "my substance is ever before You." Now that other substance is also before men. You have gold, silver, slaves, estates, trees, cattle, servants. These things are visible even to men. There is a certain "substance that is ever before You."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:8
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.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:29
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:8
"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." [1 John 1:8] 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." [Matthew 6:12] Thou therefore art "my expectation!" my "End." For "Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness, unto every man that believes." [Romans 10:4] From all mine offenses: not only from those, that I may not relapse into those which I have already "over-leaped;" but from all, without exception, of those on account of which I now beat my breast, and say, "Forgive us our debts." "Deliver me from all mine offenses:" me being thus minded, and holding fast what the Apostle said, "As many of us as be perfect, let us be thus minded." [Philippians 3:15] For at the time that he said that he was not "already perfect," he then immediately goes on and says, "As many of us as be perfect, let us be thus minded."...Are you then, O Apostle, not perfect, and are we perfect? But has it escaped you, that he did just now call himself "perfect"? For he does not say, "As many of you as are perfect, be ye thus minded;" but "As many of us as be perfect, let us be thus minded;" after having said a little before, "Not that I have already attained; either am already perfect." In no other way then can you be perfect in this life, than by knowing that you cannot be perfect in this life. This then will be your perfection, so to have "over-leaped" some things, as to have still some point to which you are hastening on: so as to have something remaining, to which you will have to leap on, when everything else has been passed by. It is such faith as this that is secure; for whoever thinks that he has already attained, is "exalting himself," so as to be "abased" hereafter. [Luke 18:14] ...

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Psalms 39:8
Although this holy man was conducting himself in noble devotion, he still asks to be freed from all of his iniquities by the Lord’s mercy.

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 39:9
[AD 390] Diodorus of Tarsus on Psalms 39:9
For my part, I realized that this happens to me with your permission, and I waited longer in the knowledge that I would receive help from the same quarter from which comes also the allowance of my suffering.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 39
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:9-10
"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"? That is strange; for did not God make your mouth, that you should speak? "He that planted the ear, does He not hear? He that formed the eye, does He not see?" God has given you a mouth to speak with; and do you say, "I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because You made me"? Or does the clause, "Because You made me," belong to the verse that follows? "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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:10
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. “The Lord lifts up all that fall and sets up all that are cast down.” Whoever is corrected will rise up with virtue.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:33
[AD 390] Diodorus of Tarsus on Psalms 39:11
I realize that all your scourging proves to be for a person’s correction and betterment; it is not as though you were indifferent to human beings in allowing them to suffer, instead preferring to improve their souls.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 39
[AD 428] Theodore of Mopsuestia on Psalms 39:11
So this is what should concern us, being rescued from sins and attaining reconciliation with you, which results in complete resolution of problems, and not taking pains over other things, which are futile and useless for the painstaker, never bringing one an outcome for the pains or providing one with lasting benefit from the pains.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 39:12c
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:11
"You with rebukes have chastened man for iniquity; You have made my life to consume away like a spider" [Psalm 39:11]. There is much that is discerned by this Idithun; by every one who discerns as he does; who overleaps as he does. For he says, that he has fainted in God's corrections; and would fain have the stroke removed away from him, "because it is He who made him." Let Him renew me, who also made me; let Him who created me, create me anew. But yet, Brethren, do we suppose that there was no cause for his fainting, so that he wishes to be "renewed," to be "created anew"? It is "for iniquity," says he, "that You have chastened man." All this, my having fainted, my being weak, my "crying out of the deep," all of this is because of "iniquity;" and in this You have not condemned, but hast "chastened" me. "You have chastened man for sin." Hear this more plainly from another Psalm: "It is good for me that You have afflicted me, that I might learn Your righteousness." I have been "afflicted," and at the same time "it is good for me;" it is at once a punishment, and an act of favour. What has He in store for us after punishment is over, who inflicts punishment itself by way of favour? For He it is of whom it was said, "I was brought low, and He made me whole:" and, "It is good for me that You have afflicted me, that I might learn Your righteousness." "You chasten man for iniquity." And that which is written, "You form my grief in teaching me," could only be said unto God by one who was "leaping beyond" his fellows; "You form my grief in teaching me;" You make, that is to say, a lesson for me out of my sorrow. It is Thou that formest that very grief itself; Thou dost not leave it unformed, but form it; and that grief, that has been inflicted by You, when formed, will be a lesson unto me, that I may be set free by You. For the word finges is used in the sense of "forming," as it were moulding, my grief; not in the sense of "feigning" it; in the same way that fingit is applied to the artist, in the same sense that figulus is derived from fingere. You therefore "have chastened man for iniquity." I see myself in afflictions; I see myself under punishment; and I see no unrighteousness in You. If I therefore am under punishment, and if there is no unrighteousness with You, it remains that You must have been "chastening man for iniquity."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 39:12
What the psalmist means is: As long as I am in this body, I am unhappy. Who of us could say that? If we are octogenarians, we are afraid to die; if we are centenarians and sick besides, still we cling to life and beg for respite. Why do we do that? Because sin gnaws at our conscience. We know that if we leave our body, we are going not to Christ but to hell. On the contrary, what does the apostle say? “I desire to depart and to be with Christ.” Give me freedom from anxiety, for after death I am going to be with Christ; even now I long to die. So our psalmist, because he is one who loves the Lord, cries: Unhappy man that I am, because my sojourn is prolonged!

Source: HOMILY ON PSALM 119[120]
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:12
"Hear my prayer, O Lord" [Psalm 39:12]. Whereof shall I rejoice? Whereof should I groan? I rejoice on account of what is past, I groan longing for these which are not yet come. "Hear my prayer, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not Your peace at my tears." For do I now no longer weep, because I have already "passed by," have "left behind" so great things as these? "Do I not weep much the more?" For, "He that increases knowledge, increases sorrow." [Ecclesiastes 1:18] The more I long for what is not here, do I not so much the more groan for it until it comes? Do I not so much the more weep until it comes?...

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 39:13
Forgive me, so that I need no longer be a pilgrim and a wayfarer. Forgive me so that I may be called home from exile. If you forgive me, before I go from this place, I shall no longer be an exile and a pilgrim. Once you will have forgiven me, I will no longer be in foreign parts. I shall be a fellow citizen of your saints; I shall be with my ancestors, who were pilgrims before me and are now truly citizens. I shall be a member of God’s household. I shall not dread punishment but shall merit grace through our Lord Jesus; with whom, Lord God, be praise to you, and honor and glory forever; now and always and for ages of ages. Amen.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 39:39
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 39:13
Grant me a little time that I may repent for my sins, for in hell no one has the power to confess his sins.

Source: HOMILY ON PSALM 103[104]
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 39:13
"Grant me some remission, that I may be refreshed before I go hence" [Psalm 39:13]. Consider well, Idithun, consider what knots those are which you would have "loosed" unto you, that you might be "refreshed before you go hence." For you have certain fever-heats from which you would fain be refreshed, and you say, "that I may be refreshed," and "grant me a remission." What should He remit, or loosen unto you, save that difficulty under which, and in consequence of which, you say, "Forgive us our debts. Grant me a remission before I go hence, and be no more." Set me free from my sins, "before I go hence," that I may not go hence with my sins. Remit them unto me, that I may be set at rest in my conscience, that it may be disburthened of its feverish anxiety, the anxiety with which "I am sorry for my sin. Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed" (before everything else), "before I go hence, and be no more." For if you grant me not a "remission, that I may be refreshed," I shall "go and be no more." "Before I go" there, where if I go, I shall thenceforth "be no more. Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed." A question has suggested itself, how he will be no more....What is meant then by "shall be no more," unless Idithun is alluding to what is true "being," and what is not true "being." For he was beholding with the mind, with which he could do so, with the "mind's eye," by which he was able to behold it, that end, which he had desired to have shown unto him, saying, "Lord, make me to know mine end." He was beholding "the number of his days, which truly is;" and he observed that all that is below, in comparison of that true being, has no true being. For those things are permanent; these are subject to change; mortal, and frail, and the eternal suffering, though full of corruption, is for this very reason not to be ended, that it may ever be being ended without end. He alluded therefore to that realm of bliss, to the happy country, to the happy home, where the Saints are partakers of eternal Life, and of Truth unchangeable; and he feared to "go" where that is not, where there is no true being; longing to be there, where "Being" in the highest sense is! It is on account of this contrast then, while standing midway between them, he says, "Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed before I go hence and be no more." For if Thou "grantest me not a remission" of my sins, I shall go from You unto all eternity! And from whom shall I go to all eternity? From Him who said, I Am HE that Am: from Him who said, "Say unto the children of Israel, I Am has sent me unto you." [Exodus 3:14] He then who goes from Him, in the contrary direction, goes to non-existence....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 39