For the choir director, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

     1I Said, “I will guard my ways,
            That I may not sin with my tongue;
            I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle,
            While the wicked are in my presence.”

     2I was dumb and silent,
            I refrained even from good;
            And my sorrow grew worse.

     3My 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 extent of my days,
            Let me know how transient I am.

     5“Behold, Thou hast made my days as handbreadths,
            And my lifetime as nothing in Thy sight,
            Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.

     6“Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
            Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
            He amasses riches, and does not know who will gather them.

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

     8“Deliver me from all my transgressions;
            Make me not the reproach of the foolish.

     9“I have become dumb, I do not open my mouth,
            Because it is Thou who hast done it.

     10“Remove Thy plague from me;
            Because of the opposition of Thy hand, I am perishing.

     11“With reproofs Thou dost chasten a man for iniquity;
            Thou dost consume as a moth what is precious to him;
            Surely every man is a mere breath. 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 Thee,
            A sojourner like all my fathers.

     13“Turn Thy gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
            Before I depart and am no more.”