39
For the chief musician, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 I decided, “I will watch what I say
so that I do not sin with my tongue.
I will muzzle my mouth
while in the presence of an evil man.”
2 I kept silent; I kept back my words even from saying anything good,
and my pain grew worse.
3 My heart became hot;
when I thought about these things, it burned like a fire.
Then finally I spoke.
4 “Yahweh, make me know when will be the end of my life
and the extent of my days.
Show me how transient I am.
5 See, you have made my days only the width of my hand,
and my lifetime is like nothing before you.
Surely every man is a single breath.
Selah
6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow.
Surely everyone hurries about
to accumulate riches although they do not know who will receive them.
7 Now, Lord, for what am I waiting?
You are my only hope.
8 Rescue me from my sins;
do not make me the reproach of fools.
9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth,
because it is you who has done it.
10 Stop wounding me;
I am overwhelmed by the blow of your hand.
11 When you discipline people for sin,
you consume the things they desire like a moth;
surely all people are nothing but vapor.
Selah
12 Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and listen to me;
listen to my weeping!
Do not be deaf to me,
for I am like a foreigner with you, a refugee like all my ancestors were.
13 Turn your gaze from me so that I may smile again
before I die.”