1 LORD, listen to my prayer,
And hear my cry for aid.
2 Hide not your face from me,
For I am so afraid.
Incline your ear to me in need;
And, when I call, be swift to heed.
3 Like smoke my days are gone;
My bones are burned away.
4 My appetite is lost;
My heart is parched like hay.
5 Because of my incessant groans
I am no more than skin and bones.
6 I’m like a desert owl,
An owl midst tumbled stone,
7 Or bird upon a roof—
I lie awake, alone.
8 My foes revile me all day long;
My haters mock my name in song.
9 For ashes are my food;
I weep incessantly
10 Because in your great wrath
You have abandoned me.
11 My days like evening shadows pass;
I wither like the sun-dried grass.
12 But you, O LORD, are set
For ever on your throne;
Through each succeeding age
Endures your great renown.
13 You will arise in mighty power;
On Zion mercy you will shower.
The set time now has come
To bless Jerusalem.
14 Her stones your saints hold dear;
Her dust is mourned by them.
15 Nations will fear your name, O LORD;
All kings on earth your praise record.
16 For God will yet appear
In glorious might to reign;
The LORD in grace will build
Jerusalem again.
17 The prayers of the poor he’ll heed;
He will not spurn their cry of need.
18 Let this be written down
To teach a future race,
So people yet unborn
May magnify his grace:
19 That from his holy place above
The LORD looked down in tender love.
From heav’n he viewed the earth
Observing all mankind,
20 To hear the groans of those
In prison cells confined,
And to deliver from on high
A multitude condemned to die.
21 In Zion will be praised
The LORD’s exalted name;
His praises will be sung
Within Jerusalem,
22 When peoples and their kingdoms throng
To serve the LORD with cheerful song.
The Editors of Sing Psalms suggest the tune Love Unknown for this Psalm. You can hear it here.