Psalms, 39

To the director of Je·duʹthun.^*1 A melody of David.

¹ I said: “I will guard my ways To keep from sinning with my tongue. I will set a muzzle as a guard to my own mouth, As long as anyone wicked is in front of me.”

² I became speechless with silence; I kept quiet from what is good, And my being pained was ostracized.

³ My heart grew hot inside me; During my sighing the fire kept burning. I spoke with my tongue:

⁴ “Cause me, O Jehovah, to know my end, And the measure of my days—what it is, That I may know how transient I am.

⁵ Look! You have made my days just a few;^*1 And my life’s duration is as nothing in front of you. Surely every earthling man,^*2 though standing firm, is nothing but an exhalation. Seʹlah.

⁶ Surely in a semblance man^*1 walks about. Surely they are boisterous in vain. One piles up things and does not know who will be gathering them.

⁷ And now for what have I hoped, O Jehovah?^*1 My expectation is toward you.

⁸ From all my transgressions deliver me. Do not set me as a reproach of the senseless one.

⁹ I kept speechless; I could not open my mouth, For you yourself acted.

¹⁰ Remove from off me your plague. Due to the hostility of your hand I myself have come to an end.

¹¹ By reproofs against error you have corrected man,^*1 And you consume his desirable things just as a moth does. Surely every earthling man^*2 is an exhalation. Seʹlah.

¹² Do hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And to my cry for help do give ear. At my tears do not keep silent. For I am but an alien resident with you, A settler the same as all my forefathers.

¹³ Look away from me, that I may brighten up Before I go away and I am not.”