[1] A Prayer of the man who is in trouble, when he is overcome, and puts
his grief before the Lord. [2] \102:1\Give ear to my prayer, O Lord, and
let my cry come to you. [3] \102:2\Let not your face be veiled from me in
the day of my trouble; give ear to me, and let my cry be answered quickly.
[4] \102:3\My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in
a fire. [5] \102:4\My heart is broken; it has become dry and dead like
grass, so that I give no thought to food. [6] \102:5\Because of the voice
of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone. [7] \102:6\I am like a bird
living by itself in the waste places; like the night-bird in a waste of
sand. [8] \102:7\I keep watch like a bird by itself on the house-top. [9]
\102:8\My haters say evil of me all day; those who are violent against me
make use of my name as a curse. [10] \102:9\I have had dust for bread and
my drink has been mixed with weeping: [11] \102:10\Because of your passion
and your wrath, for I have been lifted up and then made low by you. [12]
\102:11\My days are like a shade which is stretched out; I am dry like the
grass. [13] \102:12\But you, O Lord, are eternal; and your name will never
come to an end. [14] \102:13\You will again get up and have mercy on Zion:
for the time has come for her to be comforted. [15] \102:14\For your
servants take pleasure in her stones, looking with love on her dust. [16]
\102:15\So the nations will give honour to the name of the Lord, and all
the kings of the earth will be in fear of his glory: [17] \102:16\When the
Lord has put up the walls of Zion, and has been been in his glory; [18]
\102:17\When he has given ear to the prayer of the poor, and has not put
his request on one side. [19] \102:18\This will be put in writing for the
coming generation, and the people of the future will give praise to the
Lord. [20] \102:19\For from his holy place the Lord has seen, looking down
on the earth from heaven; [21] \102:20\Hearing the cry of the prisoner,
making free those for whom death is ordered; [22] \102:21\So that they may
give out the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; [23]
\102:22\When the peoples are come together, and the kingdoms, to give
worship to the Lord. [24] \102:23\He has taken my strength from me in the
way; he has made short my days. [25] \102:24\I will say, O my God, take me
not away before my time; your years go on through all generations: [26]
\102:25\In the past you put the earth on its base, and the heavens are the
work of your hands. [27] \102:26\They will come to an end, but you will
still go on; they all will become old like a coat, and like a robe they
will be changed: [28] \102:27\But you are the unchanging One, and your
years will have no end. [29] \102:28\The children of your servants will
have a safe resting-place, and their seed will be ever before you.
