Revised Standard Version RSV
Good News Translation GNT
1 A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee!
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Listen to my prayer, O Lord, and hear my cry for help!
2 Do not hide thy face from me in the day of my distress! Incline thy ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!
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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 pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
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My life is disappearing like smoke; my body is burning like fire.
4 My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread.
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I am beaten down like dry grass; I have lost my desire for food.
5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cleave to my flesh.
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I groan aloud; I am nothing but skin and bones.
6 I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;
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I am like a wild bird in the desert, like an owl in abandoned ruins.
7 I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
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I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All the day my enemies taunt me, those who deride me use my name for 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 like bread, and mingle tears with my drink,
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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 thy indignation and anger; for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like an 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 thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all generations.
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But you, O Lord, are king forever; all generations will remember you.
13 Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor 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 thy servants hold her stones dear, and have pity on her dust.
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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, and all the kings of the earth thy 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 build up Zion, he will appear in his glory;
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When the Lord rebuilds Zion, he will reveal his greatness.
17 he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.
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He will hear his forsaken people and listen to their prayer.
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn 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 that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at 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, to set free those who were doomed to die;
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He heard the groans of prisoners and set free those who were condemned to die.
21 that men may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise,
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And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion, and he will be praised in Jerusalem
22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
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when nations and kingdoms come together and worship the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in mid-course; he has shortened my days.
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The Lord has made me weak while I am still young; he has shortened my life.
24 "O my God," I say, "take me not hence in the midst of my days, thou whose years endure throughout all generations!"
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O God, do not take me away now before I grow old. O Lord, you live forever;
25 Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy 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 thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;
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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 thou art the same, and thy years have no end.
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But you are always the same, and your life never ends.
28 The children of thy servants shall dwell secure; their posterity shall be established before thee.
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Our children will live in safety, and under your protection their descendants will be secure.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.