1 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 spoke I with my tongue,
4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
5 Behold, you have made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before you: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them.
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in you.
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 you did it.
10 Remove your stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of yours hand.
11 When you with rebukes do correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty 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 your peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go behind, and be no more.
Book Summary
Psalms is the Bible's songbook: one hundred fifty prayers and hymns of praise, lament, thanksgiving, and trust, many attributed to David. From the depths of despair to the heights of worship, it has voiced the prayers of God's people for millennia.