A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.

1Hear my prayer, O LORD;

let my cry come to thee!

2Do not hide thy face from me

in the day of my distress!

Incline thy ear to me;

answer me speedily in the day when I call!

3For my days pass away like smoke,

and my bones burn like a furnace.

4My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;

I forget to eat my bread.

5Because of my loud groaning

my bones cleave to my flesh.

6I am like a vulture102.6 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain of the wilderness,

like an owl of the waste places;

7I lie awake,

I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

8All the day my enemies taunt me,

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

9For I eat ashes like bread,

and mingle tears with my drink,

10because of thy indignation and anger;

for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.

11My days are like an evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

12But thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever;

thy name endures to all generations.

13Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion;

it is the time to favour her;

the appointed time has come.

14For thy servants hold her stones dear,

and have pity on her dust.

15The nations will fear the name of the LORD,

and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

16For the LORD will build up Zion,

he will appear in his glory;

17he will regard the prayer of the destitute,

and will not despise their supplication.

18Let this be recorded for a generation to come,

so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD:

19that he looked down from his holy height,

from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,

20to hear the groans of the prisoners,

to set free those who were doomed to die;

21that men may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,

and in Jerusalem his praise,

22when peoples gather together,

and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.

23He has broken my strength in midcourse;

he has shortened my days.

24“O my God,” I say, “take me not hence

in the midst of my days,

thou whose years endure

throughout all generations!”

25102.25-27: Heb 1.10-12.Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

26They will perish, but thou dost endure;

they will all wear out like a garment.

Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;

27but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.

28The children of thy servants shall dwell secure;

their posterity shall be established before thee.