Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is xfaint and ypours out his complaint before the Lord.

¹zHear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry acome to you!

²bDo not hide your face from me

in cthe day of my distress!

dIncline your ear to me;

eanswer me speedily fin the day when I call!

³For my days gpass away like smoke,

and my hbones burn like a furnace.

⁴My heart is istruck down like grass and jhas withered;

I kforget to eat my bread.

⁵Because of my loud groaning

my lbones cling to my flesh.

⁶I am like ma desert owl of the wilderness,

like an owl1 of the waste places;

⁷I nlie awake;

I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

⁸All the day my enemies taunt me;

those who oderide me puse my name for a curse.

⁹For I eat ashes like bread

and qmingle tears with my drink,

¹⁰because of your indignation and anger;

for you have rtaken me up and sthrown me down.

¹¹My days are like tan evening shadow;

I jwither away like grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are uenthroned forever;

you vare remembered throughout all generations.

¹³You will warise and have xpity on Zion;

it is the time to favor her;

ythe appointed time has come.

¹⁴For your servants hold her zstones dear

and have pity on her dust.

¹⁵Nations will afear the name of the Lord,

and all bthe kings of the earth will fear your glory.

¹⁶For the Lord cbuilds up Zion;

he dappears in his glory;

¹⁷he eregards the prayer of the destitute

and does not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be frecorded for ga generation to come,

so that ha people yet to be created may praise the Lord:

¹⁹that he ilooked down from his holy height;

from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

²⁰to hear jthe groans of the prisoners,

to set free kthose who were doomed to die,

²¹that they may ldeclare in Zion the name of the Lord,

and in Jerusalem his praise,

²²when mpeoples gather together,

and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

²³He has broken my strength in midcourse;

he nhas shortened my days.

²⁴“O my God,” oI say, “take me not away

in the midst of my days—

pyou whose years endure

throughout all generations!”

²⁵qOf old you laid the foundation of the earth,

and rthe heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶sThey will perish, but tyou will remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

²⁷but uyou are the same, and your years have no end.

²⁸vThe children of your servants wshall dwell secure;

xtheir offspring shall be established before you.