Psalm 39

I Will Watch My Ways

For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

¹I said, “I will watch my ways

so that I will not sin with my tongue;

I will guard my mouth with a muzzle

as long as the wicked are present.”

²I was speechless and still;

I remained silent, even from speaking good,

and my sorrow was stirred.

³My heart grew hot within me;

as I mused, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Show me, O Yahweh, my end

and the measure of my days.

Let me know how fleeting my life is.

⁵You, indeed, have made my days as short as the width of a hand,

and my lifetime as nothing before You.

Truly each man at his best

exists as but a breath.

Selah

• PS 39:5[NOTE]THE WIDTH OF A HAND. In Hebrew it is a picture word for something only a few inches long. Life is short.

⁶Surely every man goes about like a phantom;

surely he bustles in vain;

he heaps up riches

not knowing who will haul them away.

⁷And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in You.

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions;

do not make me the reproach of fools.

⁹I have become mute;

I do not open my mouth

because of what You have done.

¹⁰Remove Your scourge from me;

I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

¹¹You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity,

consuming like a moth what he holds dear;

surely each man is but a vapor.

Selah

¹²Hear my prayer, O Yahweh,

and give ear to my cry for help;

do not be deaf to my weeping.

For I am a foreigner dwelling with You,

a stranger like all my fathers.

¹³Turn Your gaze away from me,

that I may again be cheered

before I depart and am no more.”