Psalms 102 / 150
- 1
(Do Not Hide Your Face from Me)A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
- 2
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your 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 struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
- 5
Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.
- 6
I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
- 7
I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow 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 your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
- 11
My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
- 12
But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
- 13
You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
- 14
For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.
- 15
Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
- 16
For the Lord builds up Zion;
he appears in his glory;
- 17
he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.
- 18
Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created 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 they 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 away
in the midst of my days--
you whose years endure
throughout all generations!"
- 25
Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
- 26
They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
- 27
but you are the same, and your years have no end.
- 28
The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.