1 - ?A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.?
Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to you.
2 - Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
3 - For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
4 - My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
5 - In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.
6 - I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
7 - I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.
8 - All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
9 - For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears
10 - because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 - My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
12 - But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.
13 - You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.
14 - For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.
15 - The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
16 - For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.
17 - He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
18 - Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
19 - "The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 - to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death."
21 - So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem
22 - when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
23 - In the course of my life
24 - So I said: "Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.
25 - In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 - They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.
27 - But you remain the same, and your years will never end.
28 - The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you."