In addition to the above, other appropriate Psalms, such as Psalms xv., p. 300; xc., p. 22; xci., p. 23; ciii., p. 314; and xxxix., or such passages as Proverbs xxxi. 10-31, p. 123, should be read in the House of Mourning.
Psalm xxxix.
- For the Chief Musician, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb, and kept silence, I held my peace, and had no comfort: and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire kindled: then spake I with my tongue: Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as hand-breadths; and my lifetime is as nothing before thee: surely every man, though he stand firm, is but a breath.(Selah.) Surely as a mere semblance every man walketh to and fro: surely they are disquieted for vanity: he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to waste away like a moth: surely every man is a breath. (Selah.) Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may again be glad, before I go hence, and be no more.
O Lord and King, who art full of compassion, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all flesh, who killest and makest alive, who bringest down to the grave and bringest up again, receive, we beseech thee, in thy great lovingkindness the soul of ---- who hath been gathered unto his [her] people. Have mercy upon him [her]; pardon all his [her] transgressions, for there is not a righteous
