Psalms

Lord, Hear My Prayer

O Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come to you.

Do not hide your face from me when I am in trouble. Turn your ear to me; make haste to answer me when I call.

For my days are passing away, like smoke; my bones burning, like a furnace.

Like withered grass, my heart is blighted, and I forget to eat my bread.

Because of my great grief, I am reduced to skin and bones.

I am like an owl in the wilderness, like a vulture among the ruins.

I awake moaning, like a lonely bird on the housetop.

All day long I am taunted by my enemies; they use my name as a curse.

The bread I eat is ashes, my drink is mingled with tears,

for your wrath, your fury; for you have thrown me aside.

My days are vanishing, like the shadows at night; I wither away, like grass.

But you, O Lord, you sit forever; your name endures through all generations.

Arise, have mercy on Zion; this is the time to show her your mercy.

For your servants cherish her stones, and are moved to pity by her dust.

O Lord, the nations will revere your name, and the kings of the earth your glory,

when the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in all his splendor.

For he will answer the prayer of the needy and will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for future ages, “The Lord will be praised by a people he will form.”

From his holy height in heaven, the Lord has looked on the earth

to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and free those condemned to death.

Then the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,

when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship him.

My walk has exhausted me; he has cut short my days.

I cry to him, “My God, do not take my life in mid-course; you, whose days are from age to age.”

In the beginning, you laid the earth’s foundation; the heavens are the work of your hands.

Although they perish, you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment; you change them like clothes: they pass away,

but you remain the same, your years unending.

Your servants’ children will dwell secure; their posterity will endure without fail.