New International Version NIV
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Hear my prayer, LORD; let my cry for help come to you.
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<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 Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
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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 vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
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My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in a fire.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
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My heart is broken; it has become dry and dead like grass, so that I give no thought to food.
5 In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.
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Because of the voice of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone.
6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
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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; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.
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I keep watch like a bird by itself on the house-top.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
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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 eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears
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I have had dust for bread and my drink has been mixed with weeping:
10 because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
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Because of your passion and your wrath, for I have been lifted up and then made low by you.
11 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
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My days are like a shade which is stretched out; I am dry like the grass.
12 But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.
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But you, O Lord, are eternal; and your name will never come to an end.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.
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You will again get up and have mercy on Zion: for the time has come for her to be comforted.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.
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For your servants take pleasure in her stones, looking with love on her dust.
15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
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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 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.
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When the Lord has put up the walls of Zion, and has been been in his glory;
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
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When he has given ear to the prayer of the poor, and has not put his request on one side.
18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:
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This will be put in writing for the coming generation, and the people of the future will give praise to the Lord.
19 “The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
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For from his holy place the Lord has seen, looking down on the earth from heaven;
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”
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Hearing the cry of the prisoner, making free those for whom death is ordered;
21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem
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So that they may give out the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.
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When the peoples are come together, and the kingdoms, to give worship to the Lord.
23 In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days.
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He has taken my strength from me in the way; he has made short my days.
24 So I said: “Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.
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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, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
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In the past you put the earth on its base, 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 discarded.
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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.
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But you are the unchanging One, and your years will have no end.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”
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The children of your servants will have a safe resting-place, and their seed will be ever before you.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.