Psalms 39

For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.

¹I 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.” ²I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred. ³My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue: ⁴“LORD, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am. ⁵Behold, 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. ⁷Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. ⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish. ⁹I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it. ¹⁰Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand. 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.”