[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.
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Hide 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.
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For my days consume away like smoke, And my bones are burned as a firebrand.
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My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; For I forget to eat my bread.
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By reason of the voice of my groaning My bones cleave to my flesh.
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I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am become as an owl of the waste places.
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I watch, and am become like a sparrow That is alone upon the house-top.
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Mine enemies reproach me all the day; They that are mad against me do curse by me.
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For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mingled my drink with weeping,
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Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: For thou hast taken me up, and cast me away.
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My days are like a shadow that declineth; And I am withered like grass.
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But thou, O Jehovah, wilt abide for ever; And thy memorial [name] unto all generations.
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Thou wilt arise, and have mercy upon Zion; For it is time to have pity upon her, Yea, the set time is come.
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For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, And have pity upon her dust.
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So the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, And all the kings of the earth thy glory.
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For Jehovah hath built up Zion; He hath appeared in his glory.
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He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute, And hath not despised their prayer.
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This shall be written for the generation to come; And a people which shall be created shall praise Jehovah.
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For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; From heaven did Jehovah behold the earth;
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To hear the sighing of the prisoner; To loose those that are appointed to death;
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That men may declare the name of Jehovah in Zion, And his praise in Jerusalem;
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When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah.
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He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days.
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I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations.
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Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands.
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They 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:
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But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end.
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The children of thy servants shall continue, And their seed shall be established before thee.
1 [Maschil of Asaph.] O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
