✧A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah. Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And let my cry come unto thee. ✧2Hide not thy face from me in the day of my distress: Incline thine ear unto 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. ✧5By reason of the voice of my groaning My bones cleave to my flesh. ✧6I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am become as an owl of the waste places. ✧7I watch, and am become like a sparrow That is alone upon the house-top. ✧8Mine enemies reproach me all the day; They that 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 hast taken me up, and cast me away. ✧11My days are like a shadow that declineth; And I am withered like grass. ✧12But thou, O Jehovah, wilt abide for ever; And thy memorial [name] unto all generations. ✧13Thou wilt arise, and have mercy upon Zion; For it is time to have pity upon her, Yea, the set time is 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 hath built up Zion; He hath appeared in his glory. ✧17He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute, And hath 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 hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; From heaven did Jehovah behold the earth; ✧20To hear the sighing of the prisoner; To loose those that 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 didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. ✧26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: ✧27But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end. ✧28The children of thy servants shall continue, And their seed shall be established before thee.