Psalm 102

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 stricken and withered like grass;

I am too wasted to eat my bread.

⁵Because of my loud groaning

my bones cling to my skin.

⁶I am like an owl of the wilderness,

like a little owl of the waste places.

⁷I lie awake;

I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

⁸All day long 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 lifted me up and thrown me aside.

¹¹My days are like an evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;

your name endures to all generations.

¹³You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to favor it;

the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For your servants hold its stones dear,

and have pity on its dust.

¹⁵The nations will fear the name of the Lord,

and all the kings of the earth your glory.

¹⁶For the Lord will build up Zion;

he will appear in his glory.

¹⁷He will regard the prayer of the destitute,

and will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be recorded for a generation to come,

so that a people yet unborn 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;

²¹so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,

and his praise in Jerusalem,

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, “do not take me away

at the midpoint of my life,

you whose years endure

throughout all generations.”

²⁵Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you endure;

they will all wear out like a garment.

You change them like clothing, and they pass away;

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

²⁸The children of your servants shall live secure;

their offspring shall be established in your presence.