Psalm 39 is like a psychological psalm, in which the speaker expresses his feelings and beliefs about himself in various ways, yet in all of this he always acknowledges the Lord as his help and his teacher. Much of it is about patient submission to the Lord’s will for us. The psalm ends with the words, “Remove your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more.”

The spiritual meaning of this psalm seems to be our need to be attentive to the way we handle and deal with whatever thoughts and states come to us, and to see this in connection with our trust that the Lord is always leading us. The opening words speak well to this idea. “I said, ‘I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue. I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle while the wicked are before me.’ ”

A key idea in this psalm is that of silence or staying mute. This should not be seen as passive or weak, but as a definite choice not to speak out with anger or complaint when thoughts come to our mind which bring anguish and despair. In staying silent and keeping mute there is a victory over evil that is seeking to break us and fill us with its own negativity. In verse 2 it says, ‘I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good.’ and in verse 9, ‘I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it.’ (Arcana Caelestia 8176)

Verses 4 to 6 develop the general idea of the emptiness and nothingness of all that a person does of himself. It will inevitably be tainted by his proprium, his sense of self-worth. The references in these verses to times and measures of days is not about length or passage of time, but about the various states we pass through which can be short or long in duration. (Apocalypse Explained 629)

In verses 5 and 11, in some translations the word ‘vapour’ is used to describe the relative emptiness of mere man. Other versions use the word ‘vanity’ which catches more of the true spiritual idea of a man’s wasted efforts to show his own worth and prowess.

Balancing all of this emptiness of man is to have assurance in the Lord. Verse 7 puts it, ‘And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.’ This then takes us into the work of the Lord with us in his aim of bringing us into awareness of the Lord, and our need to be checked and corrected. It is only an appearance that the Lord seems to deal harshly with us; it is more that we find it difficult to trust the Lord rather than be self-sufficient.

The word in the original which is used for ‘to correct’ is not just being admonished for being wrong; it equally involves the idea of being instructed in a different way. (Heaven and Hell 512). This helps to explain the next phrase about our beauty melting away like a moth. Our ‘beauty’ is our self-conceit or pride which needs to be dispelled. A ‘moth’ is a flying nocturnal insect which can damage things. Spiritually it corresponds to some false belief we hold. And this is summarised, ‘Surely, every man is vapour.’ The word for vapour or vanity is the word for breath, suggesting the fleeting insubstantial nature of so many of our natural desires. (Divine Providence 218)

The last two verses of the psalm are very personal: a plea to the Lord to hear our supplication and not be silent to us; then, a confession that we are as a stranger before the Lord, one from another land. In our feeling unworthy we ask the Lord to turn his face away which seems to us to accuse us, so that we may gain in strength ‘before I go away and am no more’. This ending is not about physical death, but about spiritual death in which we would perish.

3614. 'Until your brother's wrath turns back' means until the state changes; and 'until your brother's anger turns back from you' means the subsequent stage of the state with natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'wrath' and of 'anger' as states that are antagonistic to each other, dealt with below. And when these states become such that they cease to be antagonistic any longer and begin to join together, wrath is said to turn back and anger to turn back. Consequently 'until your brother's wrath turns back' means until the state changes, and 'until your brother's anger turns back' means the subsequent stage of the state with natural good. 'Wrath' implies something different from 'anger', as may be seen from the fact that in addition to their being similar expressions it is a pointless repetition to say, 'Until your brother's wrath turns back' and then 'until your brother's anger turns back'. What each implies is evident from the general explanation and also from that to which wrath and anger are each used to refer. 'Wrath' is used in reference to truth, in this case to the truth of good, represented by 'Esau', while 'anger' is used in reference to that good itself.

[2] 'Wrath' and 'anger' are mentioned many times in the Word, but in the internal sense they do not mean wrath or anger but that which is antagonistic. The reason for this is that whatever is antagonistic towards any affection produces wrath or anger; so that in the internal sense simply forms of antagonism are meant by those two expressions. 'Wrath' is used to describe that which is antagonistic towards truth and 'anger' that which is antagonistic towards good; but in the contrary sense 'wrath' describes that which is antagonistic towards falsity or the affection for it, that is, towards false assumptions, while 'anger' describes that which is antagonistic towards evil or the desire for it, that is, towards self-love and love of the world. Also, in this contrary sense actual wrath is meant by 'wrath', and actual anger by 'anger'; but when those expressions are used in reference to good and truth the wrath and anger which are manifestations of zeal are meant. And because this zeal is to outward appearance like wrath and anger it is called such in the sense of the letter.

[3] As regards 'wrath' or 'anger' in the internal sense meaning simply forms of antagonism, this may be seen from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Jehovah's indignation is against all the nations, and wrath against all their host. Isaiah 34:2.

'Jehovah's indignation against the nations' stands for antagonism towards evil - 'the nations' meaning evils, see 1259, 1260, 1849, 1868, 2588 (end). 'Wrath against all their host' stands for antagonism towards falsities derived from that evil, for by 'the stars' - here called 'the host of heaven' - are meant cognitions, and so truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1128, 1808, 2120, 2495, 2849. In the same prophet,

Who gave Jacob over to plunder, and Israel to spoilers? Was it not Jehovah against whom we have sinned? And He poured out upon him the wrath of His anger. Isaiah 42:24-25.

'Wrath of anger' stands for antagonism towards falsity stemming from evil, 'Jacob' for people under the influence of evil, and 'Israel' for those under the influence of falsity.

[4] In the same prophet,

I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples there was no man (vir) with Me. I trod them in My anger, and destroyed them in My wrath. And I trod down the peoples in My anger, and made them drunk in My wrath. Isaiah 63:3, 6.

This refers to the Lord and His victories in temptations. 'Treading' and 'treading down in anger' stand for victories over evils, 'destroying' and 'making drunk in wrath' for victories over falsities. In the Word 'treading down' has reference to evil, and 'making drunk' to falsity. In Jeremiah,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih. Behold, My anger and My wrath have been poured out on this place, on man, and on beast, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched. Jeremiah 7:20.

Both are mentioned - 'anger' and 'wrath' - because both evil and falsity are the subject.

[5] In the Prophets, whenever evil is mentioned so also is falsity, even as whenever good is mentioned so also is truth, the reason being the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth in every detail of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712. It is also why 'anger' and 'wrath' are both mentioned; otherwise one of them would be enough. In the same prophet,

I Myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, and in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation; and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. Jeremiah 21:5-6.

Here in a similar way 'anger' has reference to the punishment of evil, 'wrath' to the punishment of falsity, and 'indignation' to that of both. Since anger and wrath describe antagonism they also mean punishment, for things antagonistic to one another also clash with one another; and in that case evil and falsity suffer punishment. For evil holds within itself antagonism towards good, and falsity holds within itself antagonism towards truth. And because there is antagonism a clash also occurs; and from this punishment results, see 696, 967.

[6] In Ezekiel,

And My anger will be accomplished, and I will make My wrath on them die down, and I will be comforted; and they will know that I Jehovah have spoken in My zeal, when accomplishing My wrath on them - when executing judgements on you in anger and in wrath and in wrathful rebukes. Ezekiel 5:13, 15.

Here also 'anger' stands for the punishment of evil, and 'wrath' for the punishment of falsity, that result from antagonism and consequent aggression. In Moses,

Jehovah will not be pleased to pardon him, for then the anger of Jehovah, and His zeal, will smoke against that man, and Jehovah will separate him as evil from all the tribes of Israel. The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, and it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in His anger and His wrath. And all the nations will say, Why has Jehovah done this to this land? What means the heat of this great anger? Deuteronomy 29:20-21, 23-24.

Since 'Sodom' means evil, and 'Gomorrah' falsity deriving from this, 2220, 2246, 232, and the nation to which Moses is referring here is compared to those nations as regards evil and falsity, the expression 'anger' is used in reference to evil, 'wrath' in reference to falsity, and 'the heat of anger' to both. Such passions as these are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord according to the appearance, for the Lord does seem to man to display such when man enters into evil and evil punishes him, see 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 2335, 2395, 2447, 3605.