John Calvin Commentary Psalms 39:2

"I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred." — Psalms 39:2 (ASV)

I was dumb in silence. He now declares that this resolution he has spoken of was not 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 kept silent for a time, just as if he had been deaf, which was a unique manifestation of his patience.

His determination to be silent was not like the resolutions often made by people of a changeable disposition, who scarcely know their own minds and struggle to carry out their desires. Instead, he had long and steadfastly accustomed himself to the exercise of patience. This he had done not only by keeping silent 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 to mean 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 kept silent from good, either because, being overwhelmed with miseries and afflictions, he found no relief wherever he turned, or else because, due to the greatness of his sorrow, he was unable to sing the praises of God.

But in my opinion, the natural meaning is that although he was able to adequately defend himself, and it could not be shown that he lacked just and proper grounds for complaint, yet he refrained from speaking simply by his own will. He could have confronted the ungodly with a good defense of his own innocence, but he preferred to forgo the pursuit of his righteous cause rather than indulge in any unrestrained sorrow.

He adds in the last clause of the verse that although he so restrained himself for a time, eventually the violence of his grief broke through all the barriers he had set for his tongue. If David, who was so valiant a champion, failed midway through his course, how much more reason do we have to be afraid that we too might fall in the same way?

He says that his sorrow was stirred, because, as we shall soon see, the intensity of his emotions was so inflamed that they became tumultuous. Some interpret the phrase to mean that his sorrow was corrupted, as if his meaning were that it became worse—just as we know a wound becomes worse when it happens to putrefy or fester—but this interpretation is forced.