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Narrow Road of Virtue and Wide Road of Sin. Jan Micker, not stated on the file page. National Museum in Warsaw. Public domain.

Psalm 39

13 verses · Individual lament

You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

The line breaks below follow the poem's own punctuation.

I said, “I will watch my ways so that I will not sin with my tongue;I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are present.”

I was speechless and still;I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.

My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned.Then I spoke with my tongue:

“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days.Let me know how fleeting my life is.

You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You.Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?My hope is in You.

Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of fools.

I have become mute;I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.

Remove Your scourge from me;I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping.For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.

Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”

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