[102:1] Listen to my prayer, O Lord, and hear my cry for help!
[102:2] When I am in trouble, don't turn away from me! Listen to me, and answer me quickly when I call!
[102:3] My life is disappearing like smoke; my body is burning like fire.
[102:4] I am beaten down like dry grass; I have lost my desire for food.
[102:5] I groan aloud; I am nothing but skin and bones.
[102:6] I am like a wild bird in the desert, like an owl in abandoned ruins.
[102:7] I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
[102:8] All day long my enemies insult me; those who mock me use my name in cursing. ashes are my food, and my tears are mixed with my drink. You picked me up and threw me away.
[102:11] My life is like the evening shadows; I am like dry grass.
[102:12] But you, O Lord, are king forever; all generations will remember you.
[102:13] You will rise and take pity on Zion; the time has come to have mercy on her; this is the right time.
[102:14] Your servants love her, even though she is destroyed; they have pity on her, even though she is in ruins.
[102:15] The nations will fear the Lord; all the kings of the earth will fear his power.
[102:16] When the Lord rebuilds Zion, he will reveal his greatness.
[102:17] He will hear his forsaken people and listen to their prayer.
[102:18] Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done, so that people not yet born will praise him.
[102:19] The Lord looked down from his holy place on high, he looked down from heaven to earth.
[102:20] He heard the groans of prisoners and set free those who were condemned to die.
[102:21] And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion, and he will be praised in Jerusalem
[102:22] when nations and kingdoms come together and worship the Lord.
[102:23] The Lord has made me weak while I am still young; he has shortened my life.
[102:24] O God, do not take me away now before I grow old. O Lord, you live forever;
[102:25] long ago you created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens.
[102:26] They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear out like clothes. You will discard them like clothes, and they will vanish.
[102:27] But you are always the same, and your life never ends.
[102:28] Our children will live in safety, and under your protection their descendants will be secure.