[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 [To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.] We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.
