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.