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 peaceevenfrom good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
³My heart was hot within me;
While I was^[a]musing, the fire burned.
ThenI spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Lord,^(C)make me to know my end,
And whatisthe measure of my days,
ThatI may know how frail Iam.
⁵Indeed, You have made my daysashandbreadths,
And my ageisas nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best stateisbut^(D)vapor.Selah
⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they^[b]busy themselves in vain;
He heaps upriches,
And does not know who will gather them.

⁷“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My^(E)hopeisin 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 didit.
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 manisvapor.Selah

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