1. I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue. I will keep a muzzle over my mouth as long as the wicked are before me.”
2. I was mute with silence. I was silent even from saying good things, and my pain was stirred up.
3. My heart grew hot inside me; in my sighing a fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue,
4. “Let me know, O Yahweh, my end, and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how transient I am.”
5. Look, you have made my days mere handbreadths, and my lifespan as nothing next to you. Surely every person standing firm is complete vanity. Selah
6. Surely a man walks about as a mere shadow; surely in vain they bustle about. He heaps up possessions but does not know who will gather them in.
7. And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is for you.
8. From all my transgressions deliver me; do not make me the taunt of the fool.
9. I am mute. I do not open my mouth, for you, yourself, have done it.
10. Remove from me your affliction. By the opposition of your hand I perish.
11. When with rebukes you chastise a man for sin, you consume like a moth his delightful things. Surely everyone is a mere vapor. Selah
12. Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my tears. For I am an alien with you, a sojourner like all my ancestors.
13. Look away from me that I may be cheerful, before I depart and I am no more.