Psalm 39 - 41

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Yahweh, Make Me Know My End

For the choir director. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

I 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.”

I was mute with silence,

I even kept silent from speaking good,

And my anguish grew worse.

My heart was hot within me,

While I meditated the fire was burning;

Then I spoke with my tongue:

“Yahweh, cause me to know my end

And what is the extent of my days;

Let me know how transient I am.

Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my lifetime as nothing before You;

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

Surely 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.

“And now, Lord, what do I hope in?

My expectation is in You.

Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Make me not the reproach of the wicked fool.

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

Because it is You who have done it.

Remove Your plague from me;

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

With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;

You consume as a moth what is precious to him;

Surely every man is vanity. Selah.

“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.

Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again

Before I go and am no more.”

The One Who Rescues Me

For the choir director. Of David. A Psalm.

I hoped earnestly for Yahweh;

And He inclined to me and heard my cry for help.

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,

And He set my feet upon a high rock, He established my steps.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

Many will see and fear

And will trust in Yahweh.

How blessed is the man who has made Yahweh his trust,

And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who stray into falsehood.

Many, O Yahweh my God, are the wondrous deeds You have done,

And Your thoughts toward us;

There is none to compare with You.

I would declare and speak of them,

But they are too numerous to recount.

Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;

My ears You have opened;

Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.

Then I said, “Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

I desire to do Your will, O my God;

Your law is within my inner being.”

I proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly;

Behold, I do not restrain my lips,

O Yahweh, You know.

I do not conceal Your righteousness within my heart;

I speak of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;

I do not hide Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.

You, O Yahweh, will not withhold Your compassion from me;

Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually guard me.

For evils beyond number have surrounded me;

My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;

They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,

And my heart has failed me.

Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me;

Make haste, O Yahweh, to help me.

Let those be ashamed and humiliated together

Who seek my life to sweep it away;

Let those be turned back and dishonored

Who delight in evil against me.

Let those be appalled because of their shame

Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

Let those who love Your salvation say continually,

“Yahweh be magnified!”

As for me, I am afflicted and needy,

May the Lord think of me.

You are my help and the One who rescues me;

Do not delay, O my God.

O Yahweh, Be Gracious to Me

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

How blessed is he who considers the poor;

Yahweh will provide him escape in a day of calamity.

Yahweh will keep him and keep him alive,

And he shall be blessed upon the earth;

And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

Yahweh will sustain him upon his sickbed;

In his illness, You restore him to health.

As for me, I said, “O Yahweh, be gracious to me;

Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

My enemies speak evil against me,

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

And when he comes to see me, he speaks worthlessness;

His heart gathers wickedness to itself;

When he goes outside, he speaks it.

All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me, they devise for me calamity, saying,

“A vile thing is poured out upon him,

That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”

Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

Who ate my bread,

Has lifted up his heel against me.

But You, O Yahweh, be gracious to me and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

By this I know that You delight in me,

Because my enemy makes no shout in triumph over me.

As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,

And You make me stand firm in Your presence forever.

Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

From everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen.

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