1. I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bit while the wicked is against 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 I spoke with my tongue,
4. Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how long I am to be of this world.
5. Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before thee; verily every man that lives is altogether vanity. Selah.
6. Surely man walks in darkness; surely they are disquieted in vain; they heap up riches not knowing who shall gather them.
7. And now, Lord, what shall I wait for? My hope is in thee.
8. Deliver me from all my rebellions; do not make me 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 chastening dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his greatness 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 from here and be no more.