1. O Lord, unto my pray'r give ear,my cry let come to thee;
2. And in the day of my distresshide not thy face from me.Give ear to me; what time I call,to answer me make haste:
3. For, as an hearth, my bones are burnt,my days, like smoke, do waste.
4. My heart within me smitten is,and it is witheredLike very grass; so that I doforget to eat my bread.
5. By reason of my groaning voicemy bones cleave to my skin.
6. Like pelican in wildernessforsaken I have been:I like an owl in desert am,that nightly there doth moan;
7. I watch, and like a sparrow amon the house-top alone.
8. My bitter en'mies all the dayreproaches cast on me;And, being mad at me, with rageagainst me sworn they be.
9. For why? I ashes eaten havelike bread, in sorrows deep;My drink I also mingled havewith tears that I did weep.
10. Thy wrath and indignationdid cause this grief and pain;For thou hast lift me up on high,and cast me down again.
11. My days are like unto a shade,which doth declining pass;And I am dry'd and withered,ev'n like unto the grass.
12. But thou, Lord, everlasting art,and thy remembrance shallContinually endure,and be to generations all.
13. Thou shalt arise, and mercy haveupon thy Sion yet;The time to favour her is come,the time that thou hast set.
14. For in her rubbish and her stonesthy servants pleasure take;Yea, they the very dust thereofdo favour for her sake.
15. So shall the heathen people fearthe Lord's most holy name;And all the kings on earth shall dreadthy glory and thy fame.
16. When Sion by the mighty Lordbuilt up again shall be,In glory then and majestyto men appear shall he.
17. The prayer of the destitutehe surely will regard;Their prayer will he not despise,by him it shall be heard.
18. For generations yet to comethis shall be on record:So shall the people that shall becreated praise the Lord.
19. He from his sanctuary's heighthath downward cast his eye;And from his glorious throne in heav'nthe Lord the earth did spy;
20. That of the mournful prisonerthe groanings he might hear,To set them free that unto deathby men appointed are:
21. That they in Sion may declarethe Lord's most holy name,And publish in Jerusalemthe praises of the same;
22. When as the people gather shallin troops with one accord,When kingdoms shall assembled beto serve the highest Lord.
23. My wonted strength and force he hathabated in the way,And he my days hath shortened:
24. Thus therefore did I say,My God, in mid-time of my daystake thou me not away:From age to age eternallythy years endure and stay.
25. The firm foundation of the earthof old time thou hast laid;The heavens also are the workwhich thine own hands have made.
26. Thou shalt for evermore endure,but they shall perish all;Yea, ev'ry one of them wax old,like to a garment, shall:Thou, as a vesture, shalt them change,and they shall changed be:
27. But thou the same art,and thy years are to eternity.
28. The children of thy servants shallcontinually endure;And in thy sight, O Lord, their seedshall be establish'd sure.