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To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.
1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
* 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace,
even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
† 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it
is; that I may know how frail I
am.
‡ 5 Behold, thou hast made my days
as an handbreadth; and mine age
is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state
is altogether vanity. Selah.
§ 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up
riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
**
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
†† 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man
is vanity. Selah.
‡‡ 12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
