I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.

  • KJV King James Version

    I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (39-3) I was dumb with silence; I held my peace, had no comfort; and my pain was held in check.

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Cross-references (6)

Passages linked to Psalms 39:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Acts 4:20 for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”
  • Psalms 38:13-14 But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth. Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear, in whose mouth are no reproofs.
  • Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
  • Matthew 27:12-14 When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?” He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
  • Job 32:19-20 Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst. I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer.
  • Matthew 7:6 “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (16 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2. I was dumb in silence. He now declares…

2. I was dumb in silence. He now declares that this resolution of which he has spoken had not been a mere passing and momentary thought, but that he had shown by his conduct that it was indeed a resolution deeply fixed in his heart. He says, then, that he held his peace for a time, just as if he had been deaf, which was a singular manifestation of his patience. When he thus determined to be silent, it was not such a resolution as persons of a changeable disposition, who scarcely ever know their own mind, and who can with difficulty be brought to carry their desires into effect, often make: he had long and steadfastly inured himself to the exercise of patience; and this he had done, not only by keeping silence but by making himself utterly dumb, as if he had been deprived of the power of speech. The expression from good is expounded by some in the sense that he not only refrained from uttering sinful and unadvised words, but also that he abstained from speaking on any subject whatever. Others think that he held his peace from good, either because, being overwhelmed with miseries and afflictions, he found no relief to whatever side he turned, or else, because, by reason of the greatness of his sorrow, he was unable to sing the praises of God. But in my opinion the natural sense is, that although he was able adequately to defend himself, and it could not be shown that he wanted just and proper grounds of complaint, yet he refrained from speaking of his own mere will. He might have encountered the ungodly with a good defense of his own innocence, but he rather preferred to forego the prosecution of his righteous cause than indulge in any intemperate sorrow. He adds in the last clause of the verse, that although he thus restrained himself for a time, yet at length the violence of his grief broke through all the barriers which he had set to his tongue. If David, who was so valiant a champion, failed in the midst of his course, how much greater reason have we to be afraid lest we fall in like manner? He says that his sorrow was stirred, because, as we shall soon see, the ardor of his affections was inflamed so as to become tumultuous. Some render the phrase in this sense, that his sorrow was corrupted, as if his meaning were, that it became worse; just as we know that a wound becomes worse when it happens to putrify or fester: but this sense is forced.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Though when the wicked ruled, he thought to have…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 39:2 I was dumb with silence, I held…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I was dumb with silence; I was so long…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I was dumb with silence,.... Quite silent, as if…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Dumb - Two words put together, expressing the same…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. I held any peace, even from good]…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 39:2. I was dumb with silence — Or,…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I was dumb with silence - Compare Psa 38:13.…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain even from good-- (Gen 31:24), everything.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. silence] The word carries with it the idea…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Even from good.—This interpretation, while following the LXX.,…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I was dumb with silence, I held my peace,…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. I was dumb with silence. He was…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I was dumb with silence.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 I kept silent; I kept back my words

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