(To the choir-master, Idithun. A psalm. Of David.)

In finem, ipsi Idithun. Canticum David.

Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.

It was my resolve to live watchfully, and never use my tongue amiss; still, while I was in the presence of sinners, I kept my mouth gagged,

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

I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue. I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.

dumb and patient, impotent for good. But indignation came back,

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

I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.

and my heart burned within me, the fire kindled by my thoughts,

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

My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.

so that at last I kept silence no longer.Lord, warn me of my end, and how few my days are; teach me to know my own insufficiency.

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

I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.

See how thou hast measured my years with a brief span, how my life is nothing in thy reckoning! Nay, what is any man living but a breath that passes?

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

Behold thou hast made my days measurable: and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.

Truly man walks the world like a shadow; with what vain anxiety he hoards up riches, when he cannot tell who will have the counting of them!

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

Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.

What hope then is mine, Lord? In thee alone I trust.

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

And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.

Clear me of that manifold guilt which makes me the laughing-stock of fools,

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

Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.

tongue-tied and uncomplaining, because I know that my troubles come from thee;

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

I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.

spare me this punishment; I faint under thy powerful hand.

amove a me plagas tuas.

Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes:

When thou dost chasten man to punish his sins, gone is all he loved, as if the moth had fretted it away; a breath that passes, and no more.

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

thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.

Listen, Lord, to my prayer, let my cry reach thy hearing, and my tears win answer. What am I in thy sight but a passer-by, a wanderer, as all my fathers were?

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.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.

Thy frown relax, give me some breath of comfort, before I go away and am known no more.

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

O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.