Psalm 39-41

21st Century King James Version

39 I said, “I will take heed of my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

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

³ My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

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 Behold, Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before Thee; verily every man in his best state is altogether vanity. Selah

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

⁷ “And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in Thee.

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

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

¹⁰ Remove Thy stroke away from me; I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand.

¹¹ When with rebukes Thou dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to be consumed away like a moth; surely every man is vanity. Selah

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

40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me and heard my cry.

² He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.

³ And He hath put a new song in my mouth; even praise unto our God; many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

⁴ Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done; and Thy thoughts which are directed toward us, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required.

⁷ Then said I, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me:

⁸ I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not restrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest.

¹⁰ I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ Withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth continually preserve me.

¹² For innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of mine head; therefore my heart faileth me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!

¹⁴ Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

¹⁵ Let them be desolate as a reward for their shame, that say unto me, “Aha, aha!”

¹⁶ Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; let those that love Thy salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”

¹⁷ But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh of me. Thou art my help and my deliverer; do not tarry, O my God!

41 Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

² The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shallbe blessed upon the earth; and Thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

³ The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; Thou wilt turn him on his bed in his sickness.

⁴ I said, “Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.”

⁵ Mine enemies speak evil of me and say, “When shall he die and his name perish?”

⁶ And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity; his heart gathereth iniquity to itself, and when he goeth out, he telleth it.

⁷ All that hate me whisper together against me; against me do they devise my hurt.

⁸ “An evil disease,” they say, “cleaveth fast unto him, and now that he lieth down, he shall rise up no more.”

⁹ Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, that ate of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁰ But Thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up that I may requite them.

¹¹ By this I know that Thou favorest me: because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

¹² And as for me, Thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before Thy face for ever.

¹³ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.