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.”

For the leader; for Jeduthun. A psalm of David. I vowed to watch my words, and sin not with my tongue, but to put on my mouth a muzzle, while the wicked were in my presence.

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

I was silent and dumb, speechless: but my pain was stirred up.

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

My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire was kindled, till at last the words came to my tongue.

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

“Teach me, O Lord, my end, and the sum of my days what it is. Let me know how transient 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.

See! My days you have made but a span, and my life is as nothing before you. It is but as a breath that everyone stands: (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.

it is but in mere semblance we walk to and fro, and all our noise is for nothing. We heap up, and know not who will gather.”

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

And now, what wait I for, Lord? My hope is in you.

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

From all my transgressions deliver me; make me not the scorn of the fool.

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

I am dumb, never opening my mouth, for this is your own doing.

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

Remove your stroke from off me: by the might of your hand I am spent.

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.

When you rebuke someone to punish their sins, you consume, like a moth, what they treasures. Everyone is only a breath. (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 Lord; attend to my cry for help. Hold not your peace at my tears. For I am but a guest of yours, a stranger visiting, like all my ancestors.

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

Look away from me, let me smile again, before I die and am gone.