David seeks to control his tongue —
Man is altogether vanity —
He is a stranger and a sojourner on earth.
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 spake 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, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth;
and mine age is as nothing before thee:
verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
Selah.
6
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew:
surely they are disquieted in vain:
he heapeth up riches,
and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7
And now, Lord, what wait I for?
my hope is in thee.
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 thou didst it.
10
Remove thy stroke away from me:
I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
11
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
thou makest 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 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 hence, and be no more.
