Psalm 39

New King James Version

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

39 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my ^(A)tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
²^(B)I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
³My heart was hot within me;
While I was ^[a]musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Lord, ^(C)make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
⁵Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but ^(D)vapor. Selah
⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they ^[b]busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

⁷“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My ^(E)hope is in You.
⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me ^(F)the reproach of the foolish.
⁹^(G)I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was ^(H)You who did it.
¹⁰^(I)Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
¹¹When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty ^(J)melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapor. Selah

¹²“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, ^(K)as all my fathers were.
¹³^(L)Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,
Before I go away and ^(M)am no more.”