| 1 | For the Chief Musician, Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. 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 | Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am. |
| 5 | Behold, thou hast made my days [as] handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. Selah |
| 6 | Surely every man walketh in a vain show; 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 thy 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 Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, A sojourner, as all my fathers were. |
| 13 | Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more. |