1 Unto the end. For Jeduthun himself. A Canticle of David.
2 I said, "I will keep to my ways, so that I will not offend with my tongue." I posted a guard at my mouth, when a sinner took up a position against me.
3 I was silenced and humbled, and I was quiet before good things, and my sorrow was renewed.
4 My heart grew hot within me, and, during my meditation, a fire would flare up.
5 I spoke with my tongue, "O Lord, make me know my end, and what the number of my days will be, so that I may know what is lacking to me."
6 Behold, you have made my days measurable, and, before you, my substance is as nothing. Yet truly, all things are vanity: every living man.
7 So then, truly man passes by like an image; even so, he is disquieted in vain. He stores up, and he knows not for whom he will gather these things.