I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.
Parallel translations
- KJV I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
- BSB I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.
- NKJV I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; And my sorrow was stirred up.
- NASB I was mute and silent, I refused to say even something good, And my pain was stirred up.
- NLT But as I stood there in silence— not even speaking of good things— the turmoil within me grew worse.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David's enforced silence only intensifies his inner turmoil. Suppressed grief stirs rather than settles his sorrow.
Overview
He kept quiet 'even from good,' but the pressure of unspoken anguish grew. Bottling up grief did not bring peace. The verse honestly shows that silence is not always the same as resolution before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Matt 27:12–14When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
- Acts 4:20for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”
- Ps 38:13–14But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth.
- Isa 53:7He 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.
- Matt 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.
- Job 32:19–20Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 39:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.