A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.

¹ 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 for ever;
    your renown endures through all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
    for it is time to show favour 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 he broke my strength;
    he cut short my days.
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.’