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The Brevity of Human Life

For the music director. For Jeduthun.[a] A psalm of David.[b]

39 
I said, “I will guard my ways

that I may not sin[c] 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;[d]

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[e] consume[f] like a moth his delightful things.

Surely everyone is a mere vapor.[g] 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[h] with you,

a sojourner like all my ancestors.[i]

13 Look away from me that I may be cheerful,

before I depart and I am no more.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 39:1 One of David’s musicians (1 Chr 16:41)
  2. Psalm 39:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
  3. Psalm 39:1 Literally “from sinning”
  4. Psalm 39:6 Literally “image”
  5. Psalm 39:11 Hebrew “and/then you”
  6. Psalm 39:11 Literally “cause to melt”
  7. Psalm 39:11 The word translated “vanity” in vv. 6, 7
  8. Psalm 39:12 Or “stranger”
  9. Psalm 39:12 Or “fathers”