*Psalms 39

₁I said to myself:

‘I will be careful so that I

do not sin by saying something wrong.

I will not say anything

while sinful people are with me.’

₂So I did not speak. I kept quiet,

but it was not good for me,

and made me suffer even more.

₃It felt like a fire burning inside of me.

I became angry when I thought about it

and then I started to talk. I said:

₄‘Lord, please tell me

when I will die.

For how long will I still live?

Tell me how soon my life will be over.

₅You have made my life very short,

and all the days of my life

are like nothing to You.

Everyone's life is as short

as a breath to You.’ Selah

₆Our lives are like a shadow

that passes by.

We work very hard and we get tired,

but we get nothing for it.

We get a lot of money and things,

but we do not know

who will have it after we have died.

₇Lord, I don't wait and hope for people

to give me something good.

You are my only hope,

and only You can help.

₈Please save me from all of my sins,

and don't let sinful fools laugh at me.

₉I will not speak, and I will not say a word

because it is You

who has made me suffer like this.

₁₀Please stop punishing me,

because I am almost dead.

₁₁When You punish someone

for the sins that he has done,

You make everything

that he loves disappear.

You destroy it like a moth

that eats clothes.

Yes, our lives are as short as a breath. Selah

₁₂Lord, please listen

to my prayer and my crying.

Look at my tears,

and don't look away from me

because I am like a stranger to You,

or like a visitor, like my forefathers

who came to You for a short while.

₁₃Please look away from me,

and don't look at my sins, so that

I can be happy for a short time

before I am dead and gone.