1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

38:1 In finem, ipsi Idithun. Canticum David.

2 ¶ Dixi: Custodiam vias meas:
ut non delinquam in lingua mea.
Posui ori meo custodiam,
cum consisteret peccator adversum me.

2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

3 Obmutui, et humiliatus sum, et silui a bonis;
et dolor meus renovatus est.

3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

4 Concaluit cor meum intra me;
et in meditatione mea exardescet ignis.

4 Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

5 Locutus sum in lingua mea:
Notum fac mihi, Domine, finem meum,
et numerum dierum meorum quis est,
ut sciam quid desit mihi.

5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

6 Ecce mensurabiles posuisti dies meos,
et substantia mea tamquam nihilum ante te.
Verumtamen universa vanitas, omnis homo vivens.

6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

7 Verumtamen in imagine pertransit homo;
sed et frustra conturbatur:
thesaurizat, et ignorat cui congregabit ea.

7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

8 Et nunc quæ est exspectatio mea: nonne Dominus?
et substantia mea apud te est.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.

9 Ab omnibus iniquitatibus meis erue me:
opprobrium insipienti dedisti me.

9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

10 Obmutui, et non aperui os meum,
quoniam tu fecisti;

10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

11 amove a me plagas tuas.

11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

12 A fortitudine manus tuæ ego defeci in increpationibus:
propter iniquitatem corripuisti hominem.
Et tabescere fecisti sicut araneam animam ejus:
verumtamen vane conturbatur omnis homo.

12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

13 Exaudi orationem meam, Domine, et deprecationem meam;
auribus percipe lacrimas meas.
Ne sileas, quoniam advena ego sum apud te,
et peregrinus sicut omnes patres mei.

13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

14 Remitte mihi, ut refrigerer
priusquam abeam et amplius non ero.