Psalms 39

1 For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, “I will watch my ways so that I will not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are present.”

TO THE OVERSEER. FOR JEDUTHUN. A PSALM OF DAVID. I have said, “I observe my ways, Against sinning with my tongue, I keep a curb for my mouth, While the wicked [is] before me.”

2 I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.

I was mute [with] silence, I kept silent from good, and my pain is excited.

3 My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

My heart [is] hot within me, In my meditating the fire burns, I have spoken with my tongue.

4 “Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.

“Cause me to know, O YHWH, my end, And the measure of my days—what it [is],” I know how frail I [am].

5 You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath.

Behold, You have made my days handbreadths, And my age [is] as nothing before You, Only, every man set up [is] all vanity. (Selah)

6 Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

Only, each habitually walks in an image, Only, [in] vain, they are disquieted, He heaps up and does not know who gathers them.

7 And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

And now, what have I expected? O Lord, my hope—it [is] of You.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of fools.

Deliver me from all my transgressions, Do not make me a reproach of the fool.

9 I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.

I have been mute, I do not open my mouth, Because You have done [it].

10 Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

Turn aside Your stroke from off me, From the striving of Your hand I have been consumed.

11 You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor.

With reproofs against iniquity, You have corrected man, And dissolve his desirableness as a moth, Only, every man [is] vanity. (Selah)

12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.

Hear my prayer, O YHWH, And give ear [to] my cry, Do not be silent to my tear, For I [am] a sojourner with You, A settler like all my fathers.

13 Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”

Look from me, and I brighten up before I go and am not!