PSALM 102

A Prayer for the afflicted when he shall be shut up, and shall pour out his meditation before Jehovah

1 O Jehovah! hear my prayer, And let my cry to thee come.

2 Hide not thy face from me in the day of my afflictions; Incline to me thy ear; In the day when I cry, make haste, answer me.

3 For consumed like smoke are ³⁶⁷³⁶⁷     From verse 3d to verse 11^th inclusive, the verbs we have rendered in the present tense are in the preterite in the Latin version, but in this instance we follow the French version in which they are in the present. my days, And my bones as a hearth are burnt up.

4 Smitten like grass, and withered is my heart, Because I have forgotten to eat my bread.

5 By reason of the voice of my groaning, Cleave do my bones to my flesh.

6 I am become like a pelican of the desert, I am become as an owl of the solitudes;

7 I have watched and am as the sparrow Which is solitary upon the roof of the house.

8 Daily reproach me do my enemies; And those who are mad against me, by me have sworn.

9 For ashes as bread I have eaten, And my drink with weeping ³⁶⁸³⁶⁸     “Tears” — Fr. I have mingled.

10 Because of thy indignation and thy wrath; For thou hast lifted me up and cast me down.

11 My days are as a shadow which declineth; And as grass I am dried up.

12 And thou, O Jehovah! for ever shalt dwell, And thy memorial from generation to generation.

13 Thou thyself shalt arise, thou shalt have mercy upon Zion; For it is time to compassionate her, For come is the appointed time.

14 For take pleasure do thy servants in her stones, And upon her dust they will have compassion.

15 And fear shall the Gentiles the name of Jehovah, And all the kings of the earth thy glory.

16 For Jehovah hath builded Zion, He hath appeared in his glory.

17 He hath regarded the prayer of the solitary, And hath not despised their prayer.

18 This shall be written for the generation to come, And the people [to be] created shall praise him.

19 For he hath looked from the high place of his holiness, Jehovah from the heavens upon the earth hath looked,

20 To hear the groaning of the prisoners To release the sons of death;

21 That declared in Zion may be the name of Jehovah, And his praise in Jerusalem;

22 When gathered shall be the peoples together, And the kingdoms to serve Jehovah.

23 He hath afflicted in the way my strength, He hath shortened my days.

24 I said, O my God! take me not away in the midst of my days; For throughout generations of generations are thy years.

25 Aforetime the earth thou hast founded; And the work of thy hands serve the heavens.

26 They shall perish but thou shalt endure; And they all as a garment shall grow old; As a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.

27 But thou art always the same, And thy years shall not fail.

28 The children of thy servants shall dwell, And their seed before thee shall be established.