[1] Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come before You.
[2] Do not hide Your face from me in my day of distress. Incline Your ear to me; answer me quickly when I call.
[3] For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
[4] My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.
[5] Through my loud groaning my flesh clings to my bones.
[6] I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
[7] I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.
[8] All day long my enemies taunt me; they ridicule me and curse me.
[9] For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears
[10] because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside.
[11] My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
[12] But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations.
[13] You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor— the appointed time has come.
[14] For Your servants delight in her stones and take pity on her dust.
[15] So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.
[16] For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory.
[17] He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
[18] Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.
[19] For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth
[20] to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
[21] that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem,
[22] when peoples and kingdoms assemble to serve the LORD.
[23] He has broken my strength on the way; He has cut short my days.
[24] I say: “O my God, do not take me 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 passed on.
[27] But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.
[28] The children of Your servants will dwell securely, and their descendants will be established before You.”