Yahweh, Make Me Know My End

For the choir director. For [†]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1I said, “I will keep watch over my ways

That I may not sin with my tongue;

I will keep watch over my mouth as with a muzzle

While the wicked are in my presence.”

2I was mute with silence,

I even kept silent from speaking good,

And my anguish grew worse.

3My heart was hot within me,

While I meditated the fire was burning;

Then I spoke with my tongue:

4“Yahweh, cause me to know my end

And what is the extent of my days;

Let me know how transient I am.

5Behold, You have made my days as [†]handbreadths,

And my lifetime as nothing before You;

Surely every man, even standing firm, is [†]altogether vanity. [†]Selah.

6Surely every man walks about as [†]a shadow;

Surely they make an uproar in vain;

He piles up riches and does not know who will gather them.

7“And now, Lord, what do I hope in?

My expectation is in You.

8Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Make me not the reproach of the wicked fool.

9I have become mute, I do not open my mouth,

Because it is You who have done it.

10Remove Your plague from me;

Because of the opposition of Your hand I am wasting away.

11With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;

You consume as a moth what is precious to him;

Surely every man is vanity. Selah.

12“Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and give ear to my cry for help;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a sojourner with You,

A foreign resident like all my fathers.

13Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may [†]smile again

Before I go and am no more.”