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Psalm 39 · a question people ask

"Oh spare me" (39:13). Why does the psalm end by asking God to look away?

In the text

In Hebrew spare me is hasha' mimmenni, from sha'ah, a verb Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "gaze at, regard (with favour)", and in this form, "cause thy gaze to turn away from me" (tap spare). The verse doesn't give a reason. Earlier the psalmist has asked, "Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand" (39:10), and said, "When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth" (39:11). Job asks with the same verb and the same from me: "How long will you not look away from me" (Job 7:19). Then the psalm ends: "… that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more" (39:13). It adds no turn after that, and these notes don't add one. What the psalms say of death is set out in Psalm 6's honest question on "For in death there is no memory of you" (Psalm 6:5), and these notes don't repeat it.

The verses

“Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand. When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.”
Psalm 39:10-11 · World English Bible
“Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.””
Psalm 39:13 · World English Bible
“How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?”
Job 7:19 · World English Bible
“For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?”
Psalm 6:5 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 39

Psalm 39: Only a breath

In Psalm 39, "every man walks like a shadow" (39:6) uses tselem, the Hebrew word of "in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). Both of the psalm's Selahs come right after the words that every man is a breath (39:5, 39:11). And "Oh spare me" (39:13) asks, in Hebrew, for God's gaze to turn away.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions