Of moths and men

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For today's PsalmChallenge at Daily Athens, here is the dark Psalm 39.
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To the leader: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
¹ I said, ‘I will guard my ways
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence.’
² I was silent and still;
I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse,
³ my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴ ‘Lord, let me know my end,
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
⁵ You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.
Selah
⁶ Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
they heap up, and do not know who will gather.

⁷ ‘And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.
⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool.
⁹ I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
¹⁰ Remove your stroke from me;
I am worn down by the blows of your hand.

¹¹ ‘You chastise mortals in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
surely everyone is a mere breath.
Selah

¹² ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not be deaf at my tears;
for I am an alien with you,
a sojourner like all my forebears.

13 Look away from me, that I may hold back,
before I pass away and am gone.'
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The psalm in Hebrew, with commentary, is here.

PHOTOS:
1. Ancient and new graves, Tiberias cemetery
2. "Homo sapiens" at the Australian Museum, Sydney
3. Dean at the same moth and butterfly exhibit
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