(The Message) Psalms 39: 4-13

  ^4-6 "Tell me, what's going on, God?
      How long do I have to live?
      Give me the bad news!
   You've kept me on pretty short rations;
      my life is string too short to be saved.
   Oh! we're all puffs of air.
      Oh! we're all shadows in a campfire.
   Oh! we're just spit in the wind.
      We make our pile, and then we leave it.

 ^7-11 "What am I doing in the meantime, Lord?
      Hoping, that's what I'm doing—hoping
   You'll save me from a rebel life,
      save me from the contempt of dunces.
   I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth,
      since you, Lord, are behind all this.
      But I can't take it much longer.
   When you put us through the fire
      to purge us from our sin,
      our dearest idols go up in smoke.
   Are we also nothing but smoke?

 ^12-13 "Ah, God, listen to my prayer, my
      cry—open your ears.
   Don't be callous;
      just look at these tears of mine.
   I'm a stranger here. I don't know my way—
      a migrant like my whole family.
   Give me a break, cut me some slack
      before it's too late and I'm out of here."