Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 39:12

"Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, A sojourner, as all my fathers were." — Psalms 39:12 (ASV)

For I am a stranger. —A reminiscence of Genesis 23:4, and adopted in 1 Peter 2:11 from the Septuagint (see New Testament Commentary, and compare Hebrews 11:13). The psalmist, like the Apostle, applies Abraham’s words metaphorically to this earthly pilgrimage (compare 1 Chronicles 29:15) and movingly asks why, when the tenure of life is so uncertain, God is angry with him? (For the passionate appeal for a respite, compare Job 10:20-21; and for the Hebrew conception of the underworld, see Psalm 6:5, Note.)