
# Chapter 39
1. I said, "I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me."

2. I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.

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 measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.

5. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

6. Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

7. "And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.

8. Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

9. I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was You who did it.

10. Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

11. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapor. 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, as all my fathers were.

13. Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,
Before I go away and am no more."


