Mazmur 39:2-3

39:2 I was stone silent; ¹ 

I held back the urge to speak. ² 

My frustration grew; ³ 

39:3 my anxiety intensified. ⁴ 

As I thought about it, I became impatient. ⁵ 

Finally I spoke these words: ⁶ 

[39:2]  ¹ tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2]  ² tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2]  sn I held back the urge to speak. For a helpful discussion of the relationship (and tension) between silence and complaint in ancient Israelite lamentation, see E. S. Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part I (FOTL), 166-67.

[39:2]  ³ tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[39:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.