The Vanity of Life.
For the Chief Musician, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1 I said, I will take heed to my ways,
That I sin not with my tongue:
I will keep my mouth with a bridle,
While the wicked is before me.
2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me;
While I was musing the fire burned
Then spake I with my tongue:
4 Jehovah, make me to know mine end,
And the measure of my days, what it is;
Let me know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths;
And my lifetime is as nothing before thee:
Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. {Selah
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show;
Surely they are disquieted in vain:
He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 And now, Jehovah, what wait I for?
My hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions:
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
Because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me:
I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.
11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:
Surely every man is vanity. {Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry;
Hold not thy peace at my tears:
For I am a stranger with thee,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,
Before I go hence, and be no more.