I said, I will take heed to my ways, * that I offend not in my tongue.
2I will keep my mouth as it were with a bridle, * while the ungodly is in my sight.
3I held my tongue, and spake nothing: * I kept silence, yea, even from good words; but it was pain and grief to me.
4My heart was hot within me: and while I was thus musing the fire kindled, * and at the last I spake with my tongue:
5LORD, let me know mine end, and the number of my days; * that I may be certified how long I have to live.
6Behold, thou hast made my days as it were a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee; * and verily every man living is altogether vanity.
7For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain; * he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.
8And now, Lord, what is my hope? * truly my hope is even in thee.
9Deliver me from all mine offences; * and make me not a rebuke unto the foolish.
10I became dumb, and opened not my mouth; * for it was thy doing.
11Take thy plague away from me: * I am even consumed by the means of thy heavy hand.
12When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a moth fretting a garment: * every man therefore is but vanity.
13Hear my prayer, O LORD, and with thine ears consider my calling; * hold not thy peace at my tears;
14For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, * as all my fathers were.
15O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, * before I go hence, and be no more seen.
O hear ye this, all ye people; * ponder it with your ears, all ye that dwell in the world;
2High and low, rich and poor, * one with another.
3My mouth shall speak of wisdom, * and my heart shall muse of understanding.
4I will incline mine ear to the parable, * and show my dark speech upon the harp.
5Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, * when wickedness at my heels compasseth me round about?
6There be some that put their trust in their goods, * and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
7But no man may deliver his brother, * nor give a ransom unto God for him,
8(For it cost more to redeem their souls, * so that he must let that alone for ever;)
9That he shall live alway, * and not see the grave.
10For he seeth that wise men also die and perish together, * as well as the ignorant and foolish, and leave their riches for other.
11And yet they think that their houses shall continue for ever, and that their dwelling-places shall endure from one generation to another; * and call the lands after their own names.
12Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not, * seeing he may be compared unto the beasts that perish;
13This their way is very foolishness; * yet their posterity praise their saying.
14They lie in the grave like sheep; death is their shepherd; and the righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning: * their beauty shall consume in the sepulchre, and have no abiding.
15But God hath delivered my soul from the power of the grave; * for he shall receive me.
16Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich, * or if the glory of his house be increased;
17For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, * neither shall his pomp follow him.
18For while he lived, he counted himself an happy man; * and so long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee.
19He shall follow the generation of his fathers, * and shall never see light.
20Man that is in honour but hath no understanding * is compared unto the beasts that perish.
LORD, thou hast been our refuge, * from one generation to another.
2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, * thou art God from everlasting, and world without end.
3Thou turnest man to destruction; * again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.
4For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, * and as a watch in the night.
5As soon as thou scatterest them they are even as a sleep; * and fade away suddenly like the grass.
6In the morning it is green, and groweth up; * but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered.
7For we consume away in thy displeasure, * and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.
8Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee; * and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9For when thou art angry all our days are gone: * we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told.
10The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, * yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.
11But who regardeth the power of thy wrath? * or feareth aright thy indignation?
12So teach us to number our days, * that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13Turn thee again, O LORD, at the last, * and be gracious unto thy servants.
14O satisfy us with thy mercy, and that soon: * so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15Comfort us again now after the time that thou hast plagued us; * and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity.
16Show thy servants thy work, * and their children thy glory.
17And the glorious majesty of the LORD our God be upon us: * prosper thou the work of our hands upon us; O prosper thou our handy-work.
HEAR my prayer, O LORD, * and let my crying come unto thee.
2Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble; * incline thine ear unto me when I call; O hear me, and that right soon.
3For my days are consumed away like smoke, * and my bones are burnt up as it were a firebrand.
4My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass; * so that I forget to eat my bread.
5For the voice of my groaning, * my bones will scarce cleave to my flesh.
6I am become like a pelican in the wilderness, * and like an owl that is in the desert.
7I have watched, and am even as it were a sparrow, * that sitteth alone upon the housetop.
8Mine enemies revile me all the day long; * and they that are mad upon me are sworn together against me.
9For I have eaten ashes as it were bread, * and mingled my drink with weeping;
10And that, because of thine indignation and wrath; * for thou hast taken me up, and cast me down.
11My days are gone like a shadow, * and I am withered like grass.
12But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever, * and thy remembrance throughout all generations.
13Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion; * for it is time that thou have mercy upon her, yea, the time is come.
14And why? thy servants think upon her stones, * and it pitieth them to see her in the dust.
15The nations shall fear thy Name, O LORD; * and all the kings of the earth thy majesty;
16When the LORD shall build up Sion, * and when his glory shall appear;
17When he turneth him unto the prayer of the poor destitute, * and despiseth not their desire.
18This shall be written for those that come after, * and the people which shall be born shall praise the LORD.
19For he hath looked down from his sanctuary; * out of the heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
20That he might hear the mournings of such as are in captivity, * and deliver them that are appointed unto death;
21That they may declare the Name of the LORD in Sion, * and his worship at Jerusalem;
22When the peoples are gathered together, * and the kingdoms also, to serve the LORD.
23He brought down my strength in my journey, * and shortened my days.
24But I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of mine age; * as for thy years, they endure throughout all generations.
25Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, * and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: * they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
27And as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; * but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
28The children of thy servants shall continue, * and their seed shall stand fast in thy sight.