1A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. 2Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee! 3Do 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! 4For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. 5My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread. 6Because of my loud groaning my bones cleave to my flesh. 7I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; 8I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop. 9All the day my enemies taunt me, those who deride me use my name for a curse. 10For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, 11because of thy indignation and anger; for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away. 12My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. 13But thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all generations. 14Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. 15For thy servants hold her stones dear, and have pity on her dust. 16The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. 17For the LORD will build up Zion, he will appear in his glory; 18he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication. 19Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD: 20that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, 21to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die; 22that men may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, 23when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD. 24He has broken my strength in mid-course; he has shortened my days. 25"O my God," I say, "take me not hence in the midst of my days, thou whose years endure throughout all generations!" 26Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 27They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away; 28but thou art the same, and thy years have no end. [ (Psalms 102:29) The children of thy servants shall dwell secure; their posterity shall be established before thee. ]