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Psalm 39:13

Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”

11When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.
12“Hear my prayer, LORD, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.
13Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”
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Notice

“Oh spare me” follows words about God’s correction, making the plea for strength urgent against the speaker’s sense that life is running out.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What would recovering strength look like in the part of life that wears you down?

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How does the thought of life ending shape what you want to ask God today?

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What is it like to read a psalm that ends asking to be spared?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

8 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Job 14:6Look away from him, that he may rest, until he accomplishes, as a hireling, his day.Both prayers ask for respite, seeking rest or renewed strength within the limits of a human life.
Job 14:10–12But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?Both texts face death in stark terms: the psalm speaks of going away, and Job asks where the dead person is.
Job 14:5–6Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass.Both texts reckon with life's limits, though Job names God as the one who sets those bounds.
Job 10:20–21Aren’t my days few? Stop! Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,Both speakers ask for relief while life remains, seeking strength or a little comfort before their days end.
Psalm 102:24I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.Both prayers ask God to spare the speaker's life, with death close enough to shape the request.
Genesis 5:24Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.The shared thread is departure: the psalm anticipates going away, while Genesis reports that Enoch was no longer found because God took him.
Genesis 42:36Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these …Both use the words “no more” to express loss, though Jacob speaks of absent children and the psalmist anticipates his own death.
Jeremiah 15:15LORD, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so don’t take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered …Both speakers appeal to God to spare them amid suffering; Jeremiah names persecution, while the psalm asks for recovered strength.
Where this verse fits

Illness or diagnosis. aging. death and what comes after.

What the Bible says about death →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Ask God for strength in one worn place

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Encouragement

There is room for a prayer that ends without a report of relief. Here, the speaker still addresses God, asking for strength before life ends.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 39:13. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 39 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).