102 1 Hear my prayer, O Yahweh;
let my cry come to you!
102 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!
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 your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me away.
102 11 My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
102 12 But you, O Yahweh, are enthroned for ever;
your name endures to all generations.
102 13 You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favour her;
the appointed time has come.
102 14 For your servants hold her stones dear,
and have pity on her dust.
102 15 The nations will fear the name of Yahweh,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
102 16 For Yahweh 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 Yahweh:
102 19 that he looked down from his holy height,
from heaven Yahweh 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 Yahweh,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
102 22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship Yahweh.
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,
you whose years endure throughout all generations!"
102 25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
102 26 They will perish, but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like raiment,
and they pass away;
102 27 but you are the same,
and your years have no end.
102 28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their posterity shall be established before you.