Psalm 102

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

¹Hear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry come to you!

²Do not hide your face from me

in the day of my distress!

Incline your ear to me;

answer me speedily in the day when I call!

³For my days pass away like smoke,

and my bones burn like a furnace.

⁴My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;

I forget to eat my bread.

⁵Because of my loud groaning

my bones cling to my flesh.

⁶I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,

like an owl of the waste places;

⁷I lie awake;

I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

⁸All the day my enemies taunt me;

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

⁹For I eat ashes like bread

and mingle tears with my drink,

¹⁰because of your indignation and anger;

for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

¹¹My days are like an evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;

you are remembered throughout all generations.

¹³You will arise and have pity on Zion;

it is the time to favor her;

the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For your servants hold her stones dear

and have pity on her dust.

¹⁵Nations will fear the name of the Lord,

and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.

¹⁶For the Lord builds up Zion;

he appears in his glory;

¹⁷he regards the prayer of the destitute

and does not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be recorded for a generation to come,

so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:

¹⁹that he looked down from his holy height;

from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

²⁰to hear the groans of the prisoners,

to set free those who were doomed to die,

²¹that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,

and in Jerusalem his praise,

²²when peoples gather together,

and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

²³He has broken my strength in midcourse;

he has shortened my days.

²⁴“O my God,”I say, “take me not away

in the midst of my days—

you whose years endure

throughout all generations!”

²⁵Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you will remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

²⁷but you are the same, and your years have no end.

²⁸The children of your servants shall dwell secure;

their offspring shall be established before you.