Psalm 102

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

¹ 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!

³For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.

⁴My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.

⁵Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.

⁶I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;

⁷I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow 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 your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

¹¹My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.

¹³You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.

¹⁵Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.

¹⁶For the Lord builds up Zion;
he appears in his glory;

¹⁷he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created 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 they 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 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,

²⁷but 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.

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