The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Prayer of a sufferer overcome by weakness and pouring out his complaint before ADONAI: ADONAI, hear my prayer! Let my cry for help reach you!
1
<A Prayer of the man who is in trouble, when he is overcome, and puts his grief before the Lord.> Give ear to my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to you.
2 Don't hide your face from me when I am in such distress! Turn your ear toward me; when I call, be quick to reply!
2
Let not your face be veiled from me in the day of my trouble; give ear to me, and let my cry be answered quickly.
3 For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones are burning like a furnace.
3
My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in a fire.
4 I am stricken and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
4
My heart is broken; it has become dry and dead like grass, so that I give no thought to food.
5 Because of my loud groaning, I am just skin and bones.
5
Because of the voice of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone.
6 I am like a great owl in the desert, I've become like an owl in the ruins.
6
I am like a bird living by itself in the waste places; like the night-bird in a waste of sand.
7 I lie awake and become like a bird alone on the roof.
7
I keep watch like a bird by itself on the house-top.
8 My enemies taunt me all day long; mad with rage, they make my name a curse.
8
My haters say evil of me all day; those who are violent against me make use of my name as a curse.
9 For I have been eating ashes like bread and mingling tears with my drink
9
I have had dust for bread and my drink has been mixed with weeping:
10 because of your furious anger, since you picked me up just to toss me aside.
10
Because of your passion and your wrath, for I have been lifted up and then made low by you.
11 My days decline like an evening shadow; I am drying up like grass.
11
My days are like a shade which is stretched out; I am dry like the grass.
12 But you, ADONAI, are enthroned forever; your renown will endure through all generations.
12
But you, O Lord, are eternal; and your name will never come to an end.
13 You will arise and take pity on Tziyon, for the time has come to have mercy on her; the time determined has come.
13
You will again get up and have mercy on Zion: for the time has come for her to be comforted.
14 For your servants love her very stones; they take pity even on her dust.
14
For your servants take pleasure in her stones, looking with love on her dust.
15 The nations will fear the name of ADONAI and all the kings on earth your glory,
15
So the nations will give honour to the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will be in fear of his glory:
16 when ADONAI has rebuilt Tziyon, and shows himself in his glory,
16
When the Lord has put up the walls of Zion, and has been been in his glory;
17 when he has heeded the plea of the poor and not despised their prayer.
17
When he has given ear to the prayer of the poor, and has not put his request on one side.
18 May this be put on record for a future generation; may a people yet to be created praise ADONAI.
18
This will be put in writing for the coming generation, and the people of the future will give praise to the Lord.
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven ADONAI surveys the earth
19
For from his holy place the Lord has seen, looking down on the earth from heaven;
20 to listen to the sighing of the prisoner, to set free those who are sentenced to death,
20
Hearing the cry of the prisoner, making free those for whom death is ordered;
21 to proclaim the name of ADONAI in Tziyon and his praise in Yerushalayim
21
So that they may give out the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 when peoples and kingdoms have been gathered together to serve ADONAI.
22
When the peoples are come together, and the kingdoms, to give worship to the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse, he has cut short my days.
23
He has taken my strength from me in the way; he has made short my days.
24 I plead, "God, your years last through all generations; so don't take me away when my life is half over!
24
I will say, O my God, take me not away before my time; your years go on through all generations:
25 In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth; heaven is the work of your hands.
25
In the past you put the earth on its base, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will vanish, but you will remain; like clothing, they will all grow old; yes, you will change them like clothing, and they will pass away.
26
They will come to an end, but you will still go on; they all will become old like a coat, and like a robe they will be changed:
27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.
27
But you are the unchanging One, and your years will have no end.
28 The children of your servants will live securely and their descendants be established in your presence."
28
The children of your servants will have a safe resting-place, and their seed will be ever before you.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.