[1] Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee! [2] Do 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! [3] For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. [4] My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread. [5] Because of my loud groaning my bones cleave to my flesh. [6] I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; [7] I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop. [8] All the day my enemies taunt me, those who deride me use my name for a curse. [9] For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, [10] because of thy indignation and anger; for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away. [11] My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. [12] But thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all generations. [13] Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. [14] For thy servants hold her stones dear, and have pity on her dust. [15] The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. [16] For the LORD will build up Zion, he will appear in his glory; [17] he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication. [18] Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD: [19] that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, [20] to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die; [21] that men may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, [22] when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD. [23] He 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!" [25] Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. [26] They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away; [27] but thou art the same, and thy years have no end. [28] The children of thy servants shall dwell secure; their posterity shall be established before thee.
