Psalm 39
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Psalm 39
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the leader: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will guard my ways
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was silent and still;
I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse,
3 my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, let me know my end,
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.Selah
6 Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
they heap up, and do not know who will gather.
7 “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool.
9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
10 Remove your stroke from me;
I am worn down by the blows[a] of your hand.
11 “You chastise mortals
in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
surely everyone is a mere breath.Selah
12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not hold your peace at my tears.
For I am your passing guest,
an alien, like all my forebears.
13 Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 39:10 Heb hostility
Psalm 39
Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 39
To the chief Musician, even to 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 Lord, make me to know mine end,
and the measure of my days, what it is;
that I may know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth;
and mine age is as nothing before thee:
verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew:
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 thine 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 Lord, and give ear unto my cry;
hold not thy peace at my tears:
for I am a stranger with thee,
and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recover strength,
before I go hence, and be no more.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.