The Prayer of the Afflicted

¹Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come before You. ²Do not hide Your face from me in my day of distress. Incline Your ear to me; answer me quickly when I call.

³For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers. ⁴My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread. ⁵Through my loud groaning my skin hangs on my bones. ⁶I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. ⁷I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

⁸All day long my enemies taunt me; they ridicule me and curse me. ⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears ¹⁰because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside. ¹¹My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.

¹²But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations. ¹³You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor— the appointed time has come. ¹⁴For Your servants delight in her stones and take pity on her dust.

¹⁵So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory. ¹⁶For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory. ¹⁷He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD. ¹⁹For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth ²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death, ²¹that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem, ²²when peoples and kingdoms assemble to serve the LORD.

²³He has broken my strength on the way; He has cut short my days. ²⁴I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days! Your years go on through all generations. ²⁵In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. ²⁶They 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. ²⁷But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. ²⁸The children of Your servants will dwell securely, and their descendants will be established before You.”