New International Version NIV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Hear my prayer, LORD; let my cry for help come to you.
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Listen to my prayer, O Lord, and hear my cry for help!
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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When I am in trouble, don't turn away from me! Listen to me, and answer me quickly when I call!
3 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
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My life is disappearing like smoke; my body is burning like fire.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
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I am beaten down like dry grass; I have lost my desire for food.
5 In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.
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I groan aloud; I am nothing but skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
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I am like a wild bird in the desert, like an owl in abandoned ruins.
7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.
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I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
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All day long my enemies insult me; those who mock me use my name in cursing.
9 For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears
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Because 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.
10 because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
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My life is like the evening shadows; I am like dry grass.
12 But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.
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But you, O Lord, are king forever; all generations will remember you.
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 rise and take pity on Zion; the time has come to have mercy on her; this is the right time.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.
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Your servants love her, even though she is destroyed; they have pity on her, even though she is in ruins.
15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
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The nations will fear the Lord; all the kings of the earth will fear his power.
16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.
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When the Lord rebuilds Zion, he will reveal his greatness.
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
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He will hear his forsaken people and listen to their prayer.
18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:
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Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done, so that people not yet born will praise him.
19 “The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
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The Lord looked down from his holy place on high, he looked down from heaven to earth.
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”
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He heard the groans of prisoners and set free those who were condemned to die.
21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem
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And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion, and he will be praised in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.
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when nations and kingdoms come together and worship the Lord.
23 In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days.
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The Lord has made me weak while I am still young; he has shortened my life.
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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O God, do not take me away now before I grow old. O Lord, you live forever;
25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
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long ago you created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens.
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 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 remain the same, and your years will never end.
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But you are always the same, and your life never ends.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”
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Our children will live in safety, and under your protection their descendants will be secure.
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.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.