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^1 (0) Prayer of a sufferer overcome by weakness and pouring out his complaint before Adonai:

^2 (1) Adonai, hear my prayer!
Let my cry for help reach you!
^3 (2) Don't hide your face from me
when I am in such distress!
Turn your ear toward me;
when I call, be quick to reply!

^4 (3) For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones are burning like a furnace.
^5 (4) I am stricken and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
^6 (5) Because of my loud groaning,
I am just skin and bones.
^7 (6) I am like a great owl in the desert,
I've become like an owl in the ruins.
^8 (7) I lie awake and become
like a bird alone on the roof.

^9 (8) My enemies taunt me all day long;
mad with rage, they make my name a curse.
^10 (9) For I have been eating ashes like bread
and mingling tears with my drink
^11 (10) because of your furious anger,
since you picked me up just to toss me aside.
^12 (11) My days decline like an evening shadow;
I am drying up like grass.

^13 (12) But you, Adonai, are enthroned forever;
your renown will endure through all generations.
^14 (13) You will arise and take pity on Tziyon,
for the time has come to have mercy on her;
the time determined has come.
^15 (14) For your servants love her very stones;
they take pity even on her dust.

^16 (15) The nations will fear the name of Adonai
and all the kings on earth your glory,
^17 (16) when Adonai has rebuilt Tziyon,
and shows himself in his glory,
^18 (17) when he has heeded the plea of the poor
and not despised their prayer.
^19 (18) May this be put on record for a future generation;
may a people yet to be created praise Adonai.

^20 (19) For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven Adonai surveys the earth
^21 (20) to listen to the sighing of the prisoner,
to set free those who are sentenced to death,
^22 (21) to proclaim the name of Adonai in Tziyon
and his praise in Yerushalayim
^23 (22) when peoples and kingdoms have been gathered together
to serve Adonai.

^24 (23) He has broken my strength in midcourse,
he has cut short my days.
^25 (24) I plead, "God, your years last through all generations;
so don't take me away when my life is half over!

^26 (25) In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth;
heaven is the work of your hands.
^27 (26) They will vanish, but you will remain;
like clothing, they will all grow old;
yes, you will change them like clothing,
and they will pass away.
^28 (27) But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
^29 (28) The children of your servants will live securely
and their descendants be established in your presence."