For the Chief Musician, for 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 Jehovah, make me to know mine end,

And the measure of my days, what it is;

Let me know how frail I am.

5 Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths;

And my life-time is as nothing before thee:

Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. [Selah

6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show;

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 thy 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 Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry;

Hold not thy peace at my tears:

For I am a stranger with thee,

A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,

Before I go hence, and be no more.

1 To the Overseer, to Jeduthun. -- A Psalm of David. I have said, `I observe my ways, Against sinning with my tongue, I keep for my mouth a curb, while the wicked [is] before me.`

2 I was dumb [with] silence, I kept silent from good, and my pain is excited.

3 Hot [is] my heart within me, In my meditating doth the fire burn, I have spoken with my tongue.

4 `Cause me to know, O Jehovah, mine end, And the measure of my days -- what it [is],` I know how frail I [am].

5 Lo, handbreadths Thou hast made my days, And mine age [is] as nothing before Thee, Only, all vanity [is] every man set up. Selah.

6 Only, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, [in] vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth them.

7 And, now, what have I expected? O Lord, my hope -- it [is] of Thee.

8 From all my transgressions deliver me, A reproach of the fool make me not.

9 I have been dumb, I open not my mouth, Because Thou -- Thou hast done [it].

10 Turn aside from off me Thy stroke, From the striving of Thy hand I have been consumed.

11 With reproofs against iniquity, Thou hast corrected man, And dost waste as a moth his desirableness, Only, vanity [is] every man. Selah.

12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And [to] my cry give ear, Unto my tear be not silent, For a sojourner I [am] with Thee, A settler like all my fathers.

13 Look from me, and I brighten up before I go and am not!