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Psalm 102

Prayer to the Eternal King for Help

A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the Lord.
¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord;
   let my cry come to you.
² Do not hide your face from me
   on the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
   answer me speedily on the day when I call.

³ For my days pass away like smoke,
   and my bones burn like a furnace.
⁴ My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
   I am too wasted to eat my bread.
⁵ Because of my loud groaning
   my bones cling to my skin.
⁶ I am like an owl of the wilderness,
   like a little owl of the waste places.
⁷ I lie awake;
   I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
⁸ All day long 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 lifted me up and thrown me aside.
¹¹ My days are like an evening shadow;
   I wither away like grass.

¹² But you, O Lord, are enthroned for ever;
   your name endures to all generations.
¹³ You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
   for it is time to favour it;
   the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ For your servants hold its stones dear,
   and have pity on its dust.
¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
   and all the kings of the earth your 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 prayer.

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 so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,
   and his praise in Jerusalem,
²² when peoples gather together,
   and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

²³ He has broken my strength in mid-course;
   he has shortened my days.
²⁴ ‘O my God,’ I say, ‘do not take me away
   at the mid-point of my life,
you whose years endure
   throughout all generations.’

²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
   and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you endure;
   they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
²⁷   but you are the same, and your years have no end.
²⁸ The children of your servants shall live secure;
   their offspring shall be established in your presence.