Psalms 39

The Vanity of Life

¹For the leader, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.[#1 Chr 16:41; Ps 62:1; 77:1.]

²I said, “I will watch my ways,

lest I sin with my tongue;

I will keep a muzzle on my mouth.”

³Mute and silent before the wicked,

I refrain from good things.

But my sorrow increases;

⁴my heart smolders within me.[#Jer 20:9.]

In my sighing a fire blazes up,

and I break into speech:

⁵Lord , let me know my end, the number of my days,

that I may learn how frail I am.

⁶To be sure, you establish the expanse of my days;

indeed, my life is as nothing before you.

Every man is but a breath.

⁷Man goes about as a mere phantom;

they hurry about, although in vain;

he heaps up stores without knowing for whom.

⁸And now, Lord , for what do I wait?

You are my only hope.

⁹From all my sins deliver me;

let me not be the taunt of fools.

¹⁰I am silent and do not open my mouth

because you are the one who did this.

¹¹Take your plague away from me;

I am ravaged by the touch of your hand.

¹²You chastise man with rebukes for sin;

like a moth you consume his treasures.

Every man is but a breath.

¹³Listen to my prayer, Lord , hear my cry;

do not be deaf to my weeping!

For I am with you like a foreigner,

a refugee, like my ancestors.

¹⁴Turn your gaze from me, that I may smile

before I depart to be no more.