All Men Are Nothingness

From today's Office Of Readings: Psalm 39

I said, "I will watch my ways,
 I will try not to sin in my speech.
I will set a guard on my mouth,
 for as long as my enemies are standing against me".

I stayed quiet and dumb, spoke neither evil nor good,
 but my pain was renewed.
My heart grew hot within me,
 and fire blazed in my thoughts.
Then I spoke out loud:
 "Lord, make me know my end.
Let me know the number of my days,
 so that I know how short my life is to be".

All the length of my days is a handsbreadth or two,
 the expanse of my life is as nothing before you.
For in your sight all men are nothingness:
 man passes away, like a shadow.
Nothingness, although he is busy:
 he builds up treasure, but who will collect it?

Look to God in this short life.

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