Bible Strands
Psalms 39:13
Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD directly during a moment of acute mortality awareness and weeping. He identifies himself as a temporary resident and stranger before God, echoing the condition of his ancestors.
The words — The Hebrew הָשִׁיעַ (ha.Sha') literally means "smear" or "turn away," and בְּטֶרֶם (be./Te.rem) means "before." The psalmist uses these terms to request a withdrawal of divine scrutiny so he might experience brief relief before his inevitable departure.
The thread — This plea for withdrawn attention and brief comfort before death parallels Job 10:20, which asks God to withdraw so the speaker may have a little comfort. The theme of predetermined, limited human days also aligns with Job 14:5 and Job 14:10.
Why it lands — The text demands a reader acknowledge human finitude and the temporary nature of earthly comfort. It asks for honest confrontation with mortality without demanding theological resolution or emotional comfort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
Cross-references
- Job 10:20 Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
- Job 14:5 Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,
- Job 14:10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?
- Job 7:19 Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?
- Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.
- Genesis 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”