A Prayer of the Afflicted

¹Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and let my cry come to thee.

²Hide not thy face from me in the day of my distress. Incline thine ear to me. In the day when I call answer me speedily.

³For my days consume away like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand.

⁴My heart is smitten like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.

⁵Because of the voice of my groaning my bones cling to my flesh.

⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places.

⁷I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone upon the house-top.

⁸My enemies reproach me all the day. Those who are mad against me do curse by me.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,

¹⁰because of thine indignation and thy wrath. For thou have taken me up, and cast me away.

¹¹My days are like a shadow that declines, and I am withered like grass.

¹²But thou, O Jehovah, will abide forever, and thy memorial to all generations.

¹³Thou will arise, and have mercy upon Zion, for it is time to have pity upon her, yea, the set time has come.

¹⁴For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity upon her dust.

¹⁵So the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

¹⁶For Jehovah has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.

¹⁷He has regarded the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.

¹⁸This shall be written for the generation to come. And a people which shall be created shall praise Jehovah.

¹⁹For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven Jehovah beheld the earth,

²⁰to hear the sighing of the prisoner, to loose those who are appointed to death,

²¹that men may declare the name of Jehovah in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,

²²when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah.

²³He weakened my strength in the way. He shortened my days.

²⁴I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Thy years are throughout all generations.

²⁵Of old thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

²⁶They shall perish, but thou shall endure. Yea, all of them shall grow old like a garment. As a vesture thou shall change them, and they shall be changed,

²⁷but thou are the same, and thy years shall have no end.

²⁸The sons of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.