For the choir director, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. ¹ I said, “I will guard my ways
That I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.” ² I was mute and silent,
I refrained even from good,
And my sorrow grew worse. ³ My heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue: ⁴ “LORD, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am. ⁵ “Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. ⁶ “Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. ⁷ “And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in You. ⁸ “Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the reproach of the foolish. ⁹ “I have become mute, I do not open my mouth,
Because it is You who have done it. ¹⁰ “Remove Your plague from me;
Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing. ¹¹ “With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
You consume as a moth what is precious to him;
Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah. ¹² “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner like all my fathers. ¹³ “Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again
Before I depart and am no more.”