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, to Jeduthun. — A Psalm of David. I have said, 'I observe my ways, Against sinning with my tongue, I keep for my mouth a curb, 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 dumb [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:

Hot [is] my heart within me, In my meditating doth the fire burn, 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 Jehovah, mine 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.

Lo, handbreadths Thou hast made my days, And mine age [is] as nothing before Thee, Only, all vanity [is] every man set up. (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, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, [in] vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth 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 Thee.

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

From all my transgressions deliver me, A reproach of the fool make me not.

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

I have been dumb, I open not my mouth, Because Thou — Thou hast done [it].

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

Turn aside from off me Thy stroke, From the striving of Thy 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, Thou hast corrected man, And dost waste as a moth his desirableness, Only, vanity [is] every man. (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 Jehovah, And [to] my cry give ear, Unto my tear be not silent, For a sojourner I [am] with Thee, 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!