I Will Watch My Ways

For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

¹ 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.”

² I was speechless and still;

I remained silent, even from speaking good,

and my sorrow was stirred.

³ My heart grew hot within me;

as I mused, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴ “Show me, O LORD, my end

and the measure of my days.

Let me know how fleeting my life is.

⁵ 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

⁶ Surely every man goes about like a phantom;^*

surely he bustles in vain;

he heaps up riches

not knowing who will haul them away.

⁷ And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in You.

⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions;

do not make me the reproach of fools.

⁹ I have become mute;

I do not open my mouth

because of what You have done.

¹⁰ Remove Your scourge from me;

I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

¹¹ 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

¹² 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.

¹³ Turn Your gaze away from me,

that I may again be cheered

before I depart and am no more.”