Psalms 39

What am I but a breath

For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I 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.”a 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 LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.b

⁵You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selahc 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.d

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 LORD, 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.e ¹³Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”