New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry 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 in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call.
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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 pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
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My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in a fire.
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread.
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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 Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
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Because of the voice of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone.
6 I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
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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 am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
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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 deride me use my name for 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 like bread, and mingle tears with my drink,
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I have had dust for bread and my drink has been mixed with weeping:
10 because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted 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 an 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, O Lord, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.
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But you, O Lord, are eternal; and your name will never come to an end.
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; 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 your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust.
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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, and all the kings of the earth 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 build up Zion; he will 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 regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer.
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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 recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn 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 that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at 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, to set free those who were doomed to die;
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Hearing the cry of the prisoner, making free those for whom death is ordered;
21 so that the name of the Lord may 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 peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
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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 shortened my days.
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He has taken my strength from me in the way; he has made short my days.
24 "O my God," I say, "do not take me away at the midpoint of my life, you whose years endure throughout 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 Long ago you laid the foundation 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 endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
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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 are the same, and your years have no end.
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But you are the unchanging One, and your years will have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall live secure; their offspring shall be established in your presence.
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The children of your servants will have a safe resting-place, and their seed will be ever before you.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.