- 1I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”
- 2I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.
- 3My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned: I spoke with my tongue:
- 4“the Lord, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.
- 5Behold, you have made my days hand breadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
- 6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
- 7Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
- 8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.
- 9I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.
- 10Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
- 11When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.
- 12“Hear my prayer, the Lord, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.
- 13Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away, and exist no more.”