Psalm 39 is most akin to the prayer psalms of the individual but it is unlike any other, as its closing petition alone shows: “Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more.” It resonates with Job and Ecclesiastes more than with other psalms. The refrain, “each man’s life is but a breath” (Hb. hebel, vv. 5, 11), echoes that of Ecclesiastes: “Everything is a breath” (Hb. hebel, NIV “meaningless,”Eccl. 1:2; 12:8). Unlike most psalms, this one has a ring of autobiography (esp. vv. 1–3, 9). It also reflects a contrast between those who heap up wealth (vv. 6, 11) and the speaker who characterizes himself as a social alien and stranger (or “sojourner,” v. 12; cf. the situation in Ps. 37). These two features are also prominent in Psalm 73 (vv. 3–5, 12), which similarl…