Psalm 38
1 For the end, a Song of David, to Jeduthun.
2 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue:
I set a guard on my mouth,
while the sinner stood in my presence.
3 I was dumb, and humbled myself, and kept silence from good words;
and my grief was renewed.
4 My heart grew hot within me,
and a fire would kindle in my meditation:
I spake with my tongue,
5 O Lord, make me to know mine end,
and the number of my days, what it is;
that I may know what I lack.
6 Behold, thou hast made [1]my days a span long;
and mine existence is as nothing before thee:
nay, every man living is altogether vanity.
Pause.
7 Surely man walketh in a [2]shadow;
nay, he is disquieted in vain:
he layeth up treasures, and knoweth not for whom he shall gather them.
8 And now what is mine expectation? is it not the Lord?
and my ground of hope is with thee.
Pause.
9 Deliver me from all my transgressions:
thou hast made me a reproach to the foolish.
10 I was [3]dumb, and opened not my mouth; for thou art he that made me.
11 Remove thy scourges from me:
I have fainted by reason of the strength of thy hand.
12 Thou chastenest man with rebukes for iniquity,
and thou makest his life to consume away like a spider’s web:
nay, every man is disquieted in vain.
Pause.
13 O Lord, hearken to my prayer and my supplication:
attend to my tears: be not silent,
for I am a sojourner in the land,
and a stranger, as all my fathers were.
14 Spare me, that I may be refreshed,
before I depart, and be no more.