Psalms 39

The Brevity of Human Life

¹I said, “I will guard my ways

that I may not sin with my tongue.

I will keep a muzzle over my mouth

as long as the wicked are before me.”

²I was mute with silence. I was silent even from saying good things,

and my pain was stirred up.

³My heart grew hot inside me;

in my sighing a fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue,

⁴“Let me know, O Yahweh, my end,

and what is the measure of my days.

Let me know how transient I am.”

⁵Look, you have made my days mere handbreadths,

and my lifespan as nothing next to you.

Surely every person standing firm is complete vanity. Selah

⁶Surely a man walks about as a mere shadow;[#Literally “image”]

surely in vain they bustle about.

He heaps up possessions but does not know who will gather them in.

⁷And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is for you.

⁸From all my transgressions deliver me;

do not make me the taunt of the fool.

⁹I am mute. I do not open my mouth,

for you, yourself, have done it.

¹⁰Remove from me your affliction.

By the opposition of your hand I perish.

¹¹When with rebukes you chastise a man for sin,

you consume like a moth his delightful things.

Surely everyone is a mere vapor. Selah

¹²Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and listen to my cry for help;

do not be deaf to my tears.

For I am an alien with you,

a sojourner like all my ancestors.

¹³Look away from me that I may be cheerful,

before I depart and I am no more.