Psalm 39

¹  I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue.
    I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”
² I was mute with silence.
    I held my peace, even from good.
    My sorrow was stirred.
³ My heart was hot within me.
    While I meditated, the fire burned.
I spoke with my tongue:
⁴     “Yahweh, show me my end,
    what is the measure of my days.
    Let me know how frail I am.
⁵ Behold, you have made my days hand widths.
    My lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
⁶ “Surely every man walks like a shadow.
    Surely they busy themselves in vain.
    He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
⁷ Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
    My hope is in you.
⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.
⁹ I was mute.
    I didn’t open my mouth,
    because you did it.
¹⁰ Remove your scourge away from me.
    I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
¹¹ When 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, Yahweh, 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.
¹³ Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,
    before I go away and exist no more.”

Psalm 38   ■   Psalm 40