Chapter 39

¹{To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.} I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked is before me. ²I was dumb with silence, I held my peace from good; and my sorrow was stirred. ³My heart burned within me; the fire was kindled in my musing: I spoke with my tongue, ⁴Make me to know, Jehovah, mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: I shall know how frail I am. ⁵Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah. ⁶Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them. ⁷And now, what wait I for, Lord? my hope is in thee. ⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish. ⁹I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; for thou hast done [it]. ¹⁰Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. ¹¹When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely, every man is vanity. Selah. ¹²Hear my prayer, Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; be not silent at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, like all my fathers. ¹³Look away from me, and let me recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.