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 the good; and my / sorrow was stirred. 3. My heart was hot within me, while I was still musing the / fire- burned: then spake / I with my tongue, 4. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, / what it is; that I may / know how frail I am. 5. Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. 6. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not / who shall gather them. 7. And now, Lord, what / wait I for? my / hope is in thee. 8. Deliver me from all my trans- gressions: make me not the re- / proach of the foolish. 9. I was dumb, I opened / not my mouth; because thou didst it. 10. Remove thy stroke a- way from me: I am consumed by the / blow of thine 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. 12. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto / my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: 13. O spare me, that I may re- / cover my strength, before I go / hence, and be no more.
