102:0 A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
102:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee!
102:2 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!
102:3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
102:4 My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread.
102:5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cleave to my flesh.
102:6 I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;
102:7 I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
102:8 All the day my enemies taunt me, those who deride me use my name for a curse.
102:9 For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink,
102:10 because of thy indignation and anger; for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.
102:11 My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
102:12 But thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all generations.
102:13 Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.
102:14 For thy servants hold her stones dear, and have pity on her dust.
102:15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
102:16 For the LORD will build up Zion, he will appear in his glory;
102:17 he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.
102:18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD:
102:19 that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
102:20 to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die;
102:21 that men may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise,
102:22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
102:23 He has broken my strength in mid-course; he has shortened my days.
102:24 "O my God," I say, "take me not hence in the midst of my days, thou whose years endure throughout all generations!"
102:25 Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
102:26 They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;
102:27 but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.
102:28 The children of thy servants shall dwell secure; their posterity shall be established before thee.
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