Psalm 102

The Prayer of a Troubled Young Man^e

102 Listen to my prayer, O Lord,

and hear my cry for help!

²When I am in trouble,

don’t turn away from me!

Listen to me,

and answer me quickly when I call!

³My life is disappearing like smoke;

my body is burning like fire.

⁴I am beaten down like dry grass;

I have lost my desire for food.

⁵I groan aloud;

I am nothing but skin and bones.

⁶I am like a wild bird in the desert,

like an owl in abandoned ruins.

⁷I lie awake;

I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.

⁸All day long my enemies insult me;

those who mock me use my name in cursing.

^9–10Because of your anger and fury,

ashes are my food,

and my tears are mixed with my drink.

You picked me up and threw me away.

¹¹My life is like the evening shadows;

I am like dry grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are king for ever;

all generations will remember you.

¹³You will rise and take pity on Zion;

the time has come to have mercy on her;

this is the right time.

¹⁴Your servants love her,

even though she is destroyed;

they have pity on her,

even though she is in ruins.

¹⁵The nations will fear the Lord;

all the kings of the earth will fear his power.

¹⁶When the Lord rebuilds Zion,

he will reveal his greatness.

¹⁷He will hear his forsaken people

and listen to their prayer.

¹⁸Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done,

so that people not yet born will praise him.

¹⁹The Lord looked down from his holy place on high,

he looked down from heaven to earth.

²⁰He heard the groans of prisoners

and set free those who were condemned to die.

²¹And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion,

and he will be praised in Jerusalem

²²when nations and kingdoms come together

and worship the Lord.

²³The Lord has made me weak while I am still young;

he has shortened my life.

²⁴O God, do not take me away now

before I grow old.

O Lord, you live for ever;

^25*long ago you created the earth,

and with your own hands you made the heavens.

^26*They will disappear, but you will remain;

they will all wear out like clothes.

You will discard them like clothes,

and they will vanish.

^27*But you are always the same,

and your life never ends.

²⁸Our children will live in safety,

and under your protection

their descendants will be secure.