| 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. |
| 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 forever; your name endures to all generations. |
| 13 | You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor 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 midcourse; he has shortened my days. |
| 24 | “O my God,” I say, “do not take me away at the midpoint 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. |
