2 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue:

I set a guard on my mouth,

While the sinner stood in my presence.

3 I was dumb, and humbled myself, and kept silence from good words;

And my grief was renewed.

4 My heart grew hot within me,

And a fire would kindle in my meditation:

I spoke with my tongue,

5 O Lord, make me to know mine end,

And the number of my days, what it is;

That I may know what I lack.

6 Behold, thou hast made my days old;

And my existence is as nothing before thee:

Nay, every man living is altogether vanity. Pause.

7 Surely man walks in a shadow;

Nay, he is disquieted in vain:

He lays up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them.

8 And now what is my expectation? is it not the Lord?

And my ground of hope is with thee. Pause.

9 Deliver me from all my transgressions:

Thou hast made me a reproach to the foolish.

10 I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; for thou art he that made me.

11 Remove thy scourges from me:

I have fainted by reason of the strength of thy hand.

12 Thou chastenest man with rebukes for iniquity,

And thou makest his life to consume away like a spider’s web:

Nay, every man is disquieted in vain. Pause.

13 O Lord, hearken to my prayer and my supplication:

Attend to my tears: be not silent,

For I am a sojourner in the land,

And a stranger, as all my fathers were.

14 Spare me, that I may be refreshed,

Before I depart, and be no more.