Psalms 39:12

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, etc.] Which was, that he would remove the affliction from him that lay so hard and heavy upon him; and give ear unto my cry; which shows the distress he was in, and the vehemency with which he put up his petition to the Lord; hold not thy peace at my tears; which were shed in great plenty, through the violence of the affliction, and in his fervent prayers to God; (see <580507> Hebrews 5:7); for I [am] a stranger with thee; not to God, to Christ, to the Spirit, to the saints, to himself, and the plague of his own heart, or to the devices of Satan; but in the world, and to the men of it; being unknown to them, and behaving as a stranger among them; all which was known…”

“Consonant with the tenor of the Psalm, he prays for God's compassionate regard to him as a stranger here; and that, as such was the condition of his fathers, so, like them, he may be cheered instead of being bound under wrath and chastened in displeasure. Next: Psalms Chapter 40”

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry - That is, in view of my affliction and my sins; in view, also, of the perplexing questions which have agitated my bosom; the troublous thoughts which passed through my soul, which I did not dare to express before man Psalms 39:1-2, but which I have now expressed before thee. Hold not thy peace - Be not silent. Do not refuse to answer me; to speak peace to me. At my tears - Or rather, at my weeping; as if God heard the voice of his weeping. Weeping, if uncomplaining, is of the nature of prayer, for God regards the sorrows of the soul as he sees them. The weeping penitent, the weeping sufferer, is one on whom we may suppose God looks with…”

“A stranger - I am only in my journey or passage to my real home, which is in the other world. Psalms 39:13”

“39:12 A guest (or foreigner) had no rights of land ownership (see Lev 25:23). The patriarchs had lived as guests in Canaan (Ps 105:23).”

“hold: Psa 56:8, Psa 116:3; Sa2 16:12 \*marg. Kg2 20:5; Job 16:20; Heb 5:7 for I am: Psa 119:19, Psa 119:54; Lev 25:23; Ch1 29:15; Co2 5:6; Heb 11:13; Pe1 1:17, Pe1 2:11 as all: Gen 47:9 Psalms 39:13”

“(Heb.: 39:13-14) Finally, the poet renews the prayer for an alleviation of his sufferings, basing it upon the shortness of the earthly pilgrimage. The urgent שׁמעה is here fuller toned, being שׁמעה. (Note: So Heidenheim and Baer, following Abulwald, Efodi, and Mose ha-Nakdan. The Masoretic observation לית קמץ חטף, "only here with Kametzchateph," is found appended in codices. This Chatephkametz is euphonic, as in לקחה, Gen 2:23, and in many other instances that are obliterated in our editions, vid., Abulwald, חרקמה ס, p. 198, where even מטּהרו = מטּהרו, Psa 89:45, is cited among these examples (Ges. 10, 2 rem.).) Side by side with the language of prayer, tears even appear here as prayer that…”