Psalm 39:3
New International Version
my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

New Living Translation
The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words:

English Standard Version
My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

Berean Standard Bible
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

King James Bible
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

New King James Version
My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

New American Standard Bible
My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

NASB 1995
My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

NASB 1977
My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

Legacy Standard Bible
My heart was hot within me, While I meditated the fire was burning; Then I spoke with my tongue:

Amplified Bible
My heart was hot within me. While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

Christian Standard Bible
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, a fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:

Holman Christian Standard Bible
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, a fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:”

American Standard Version
My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned: Then spake I with my tongue:

Contemporary English Version
I felt a fire burning inside, and the more I thought, the more it burned, until at last I said:

English Revised Version
My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire kindled: then spake I with my tongue:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
My heart burned like a fire flaring up within me. Then I spoke with my tongue:

Good News Translation
and I was overcome with anxiety. The more I thought, the more troubled I became; I could not keep from asking:

International Standard Version
My heart within me became incensed; as I thought about it, the fire burned. Then I spoke out:

Majority Standard Bible
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

NET Bible
my anxiety intensified. As I thought about it, I became impatient. Finally I spoke these words:

New Heart English Bible
My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned: I spoke with my tongue:

Webster's Bible Translation
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then I spoke with my tongue.

World English Bible
My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
My heart [is] hot within me, "" In my meditating the fire burns, "" I have spoken with my tongue.

Young's Literal Translation
Hot is my heart within me, In my meditating doth the fire burn, I have spoken with my tongue.

Smith's Literal Translation
My heart was hot in the midst of me; in my heat the fire will burn: I spake with my tongue.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
My heart grew hot within me : and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.

Catholic Public Domain Version
My heart grew hot within me, and, during my meditation, a fire would flare up.

New American Bible
my heart smolders within me. In my sighing a fire blazes up, and I break into speech:

New Revised Standard Version
my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
My heart was hot within me; and my body was on fire; then spoke I with my tongue,

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
My heart is hot within me and fire is renewed in my body; I meditated with my tongue.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
My heart waxed hot within me; While I was musing, the fire kindled; Then spoke I with my tongue:

Brenton Septuagint Translation
My heart grew hot within me, and a fire would kindle in my meditation: I spoke with my tongue,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
I Will Watch My Ways
2I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred. 3My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue: 4“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

Job 32:18-20
For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me. / Behold, my belly is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like a new wineskin. / I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and respond.

Luke 24:32
They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Jeremiah 6:11
But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.

Acts 4:20
For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Proverbs 16:23
The heart of the wise man instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

Matthew 12:34
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Psalm 119:11
I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

1 Corinthians 9:16
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Proverbs 15:28
The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked blurts out evil.

Psalm 45:1
For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies.” A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

2 Corinthians 5:14
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

Isaiah 30:27
Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

Jeremiah 23:29
“Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”


Treasury of Scripture

My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spoke I with my tongue,

Jeremiah 20:9
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

Ezekiel 3:14
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

Luke 24:32
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

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Breast Burn Burned Burning Deep Fire Grew Heart Hot Kindled Lighted Meditated Mused Musing Thought Tongue Waxed Within
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Breast Burn Burned Burning Deep Fire Grew Heart Hot Kindled Lighted Meditated Mused Musing Thought Tongue Waxed Within
Psalm 39
1. David's care of his thoughts
4. The consideration of the brevity and vanity of life
7. the reverence of God's judgments
10. and prayer, are his bridles of impatience














My heart grew hot within me
The phrase "My heart grew hot within me" reflects an intense emotional state. In the Hebrew text, the word for "heart" is "לֵב" (lev), which often signifies not just the physical heart but the inner self, including emotions, thoughts, and will. The imagery of the heart growing "hot" suggests a burning passion or distress. This could be seen as a metaphor for the psalmist's inner turmoil and fervent emotions, possibly due to the weight of unspoken thoughts or the struggle with sin and human frailty. Historically, the heart was considered the seat of emotions and intellect in ancient Near Eastern cultures, which aligns with the psalmist's expression of deep, internal conflict.

as I mused, the fire burned
The word "mused" comes from the Hebrew "הָגָה" (hagah), which means to meditate, ponder, or reflect deeply. This suggests a deliberate and intense contemplation. The "fire" that "burned" is a continuation of the metaphor of internal heat, indicating that the more the psalmist reflected on his situation, the more his emotions intensified. This could be understood as the process of wrestling with one's thoughts and feelings, leading to a heightened state of emotional fervor. In a scriptural context, fire often symbolizes purification, judgment, or the presence of God, which may imply that this internal burning is a refining process or a divine stirring within the psalmist's soul.

Then I spoke with my tongue
The transition to "Then I spoke with my tongue" marks a shift from internal contemplation to external expression. The Hebrew word for "spoke" is "דִּבֵּר" (dibber), which implies a deliberate act of communication. The "tongue" is often used in scripture to represent speech and the power of words. This phrase suggests that the psalmist's internal struggle and meditation reached a point where it could no longer be contained and had to be expressed verbally. In a broader biblical context, this reflects the importance of speaking truth and the power of words to articulate one's innermost thoughts and emotions. It underscores the transition from silent suffering to vocal prayer or declaration, a common theme in the Psalms where personal lament turns into a plea for divine intervention or understanding.

(3) The fire burned.--The attempt at repression only makes the inward flame of feeling burn the more fiercely, till at last it is too much for the resolution that has been formed, and the passion of the heart breaks out in words. Like the modern poet, the Hebrew bard had felt

"Twere better not to breathe or speak

Than cry for strength, remaining weak,

And seem to find, but still to seek."

"But thought is too much for him, and he breaks into speech, not, however, fretfully, still less with bitter invective against others. It is a dialogue with the ruler of destiny, in which frail man wants to face his condition, and know the worst.

Verse 3. - My heart was hot within me; or, grew hot (Kay). And while I was musing the fire burned; or, kindled (Revised Version). Then spake I with my tongue; i.e. aloud, articulately. I could not - at any rate, I did not - refrain myself. I burst out in speech, and made my moan to God

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
My heart
לִבִּ֨י ׀ (lib·bî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

grew hot
חַם־ (ḥam-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2552: To be or become warm

within me;
בְּקִרְבִּ֗י (bə·qir·bî)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7130: The nearest part, the center

as I mused,
בַּהֲגִיגִ֥י (ba·hă·ḡî·ḡî)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1901: A whisper, musing, murmuring

the fire
אֵ֑שׁ (’êš)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 784: A fire

burned.
תִבְעַר־ (ṯiḇ·‘ar-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1197: To kindle, consume, to be, brutish

[Then] I spoke
דִּ֝בַּ֗רְתִּי (dib·bar·tî)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

with my tongue:
בִּלְשֽׁוֹנִי׃ (bil·šō·w·nî)
Preposition-b | Noun - common singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 3956: The tongue


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OT Poetry: Psalm 39:3 My heart was hot within me (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 39:2
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