Psalms 39
Chapter 39 of 150
1 The Vanity of Life. For the leader, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
2 I said, “I will watch my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth.”
3 Mute and silent before the wicked, I refrain from good things. But my sorrow increases;
4 my heart smolders within me. In my sighing a fire blazes up, and I break into speech:
5 Lord, let me know my end, the number of my days, that I may learn how frail I am.
6 To be sure, you establish the expanse of my days; indeed, my life is as nothing before you. Every man is but a breath.
7 Man goes about as a mere phantom; they hurry about, although in vain; he heaps up stores without knowing for whom.
8 And now, Lord, for what do I wait? You are my only hope.
9 From all my sins deliver me; let me not be the taunt of fools.
10 I am silent and do not open my mouth because you are the one who did this.
11 Take your plague away from me; I am ravaged by the touch of your hand.
12 You chastise man with rebukes for sin; like a moth you consume his treasures. Every man is but a breath.
13 Listen to my prayer, Lord, hear my cry; do not be deaf to my weeping! For I am with you like a foreigner, a refugee, like my ancestors.
14 Turn your gaze from me, that I may smile before I depart to be no more.