Psalm 39-40

New King James Version

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

39 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my ^(A)tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
²^(B)I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
³My heart was hot within me;
While I was ^[a]musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Lord, ^(C)make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
⁵Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but ^(D)vapor. Selah
⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they ^[b]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 ^(E)hope is in You.
⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me ^(F)the reproach of the foolish.
⁹^(G)I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was ^(H)You who did it.
¹⁰^(I)Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
¹¹When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty ^(J)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, ^(K)as all my fathers were.
¹³^(L)Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,
Before I go away and ^(M)am no more.”

Faith Persevering in Trial^(N)

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

40 I ^(O)waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
²He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of ^(P)the miry clay,
And ^(Q)set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
³^(R)He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.

⁴^(S)Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
⁵^(T)Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
^(U)And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.

⁶^(V)Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
⁷Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸^(W)I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is ^(X)within my heart.”

⁹^(Y)I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, ^(Z)I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
¹⁰^(AA)I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.

¹¹Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
^(AB)Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
¹²For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
^(AC)My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.

¹³^(AD)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
¹⁴^(AE)Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my ^[c]life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
¹⁵Let them be ^(AF)confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

¹⁶^(AG)Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation ^(AH)say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
¹⁷^(AI)But I am poor and needy;
^(AJ)Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.