11 My days are like a shade alway, Which doth declining swiftly pass; And I am withered away, Much like unto the fading grass.
12 But thou, O Lord, shalt still endure, From change and all mutation free, And to all generations sure Shall thy remembrance ever be.
13 Thou shalt arise, and mercy yet Thou to mount Sion shalt extend: Her time for favour which was set, Behold, is now come to an end.
14 Thy saints take pleasure in her stones, Her very dust to them is dear. 15 All heathen lands and kingly thrones On earth thy glorious name shall fear.
16 God in his glory shall appear, When Sion he builds and repairs. 17 He shall regard and lend his ear Unto the needy’s humble pray’rs:
Th’ afflicted’s pray’r he will not scorn. 18 All times this shall be on record: And generations yet unborn Shall praise and magnify the Lord.
19 He from his holy place look’d down, The earth he view’d from heav’n on high; 20 To hear the pris’ner’s mourning groan, And free them that are doom’d to die;
21 That Sion, and Jerus’lem too, His name and praise may well record, 22 When people and the kingdoms do Assemble all to praise the Lord.
23 My strength he weaken’d in the way,
My days of life he shortened.
24 My God, O take me not away
In mid-time of my days, I said:
Thy years throughout all ages last.
25 Of old thou hast established
The earth’s foundation firm and fast:
Thy mighty hands the heav’ns have made.
26 They perish shall, as garments do,
But thou shalt evermore endure;
As vestures, thou shalt change them so;
And they shall all be changed sure:
27 But from all changes thou art free;
Thy endless years do last for aye.
28 Thy servants, and their seed who be,
Establish’d shall before thee stay.
First Version (C.M.)
1 O Lord, unto my pray’r give ear,
my cry let come to thee;
2 And in the day of my distress
hide not thy face from me.
Give ear to me; what time I call,
to answer me make haste:
3 For, as an hearth, my bones are burnt,
my days, like smoke, do waste.
4 My heart within me smitten is,
and it is withered
Like very grass; so that I do
forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of my groaning voice
my bones cleave to my skin.
6 Like pelican in wilderness
forsaken I have been:
I like an owl in desert am,
that nightly there doth moan;
7 I watch, and like a sparrow am
on the house-top alone.
8 My bitter en’mies all the day
reproaches cast on me;
And, being mad at me, with rage
against me sworn they be.
9 For why? I ashes eaten have
like bread, in sorrows deep;
My drink I also mingled have
with tears that I did weep.
10 Thy wrath and indignation
did cause this grief and pain;
For thou hast lift me up on high,
and cast me down again.
11 My days are like unto a shade, which doth declining pass; And I am dry’d and withered, ev’n like unto the grass.
12 But thou, Lord, everlasting art, and thy remembrance shall Continually endure, and be to generations all.
13 Thou shalt arise, and mercy have upon thy Sion yet; The time to favour her is come, the time that thou hast set.
14 For in her rubbish and her stones thy servants pleasure take; Yea, they the very dust thereof do favour for her sake.
15 So shall the heathen people fear the Lord’s most holy name; And all the kings on earth shall dread thy glory and thy fame.
16 When Sion by the mighty Lord built up again shall be, In glory then and majesty to men appear shall he.
17 The prayer of the destitute he surely will regard; Their prayer will he not despise, by him it shall be heard.
18 For generations yet to come this shall be on record: So shall the people that shall be created praise the Lord.
19 He from his sanctuary’s height hath downward cast his eye; And from his glorious throne in heav’n the Lord the earth did spy;
20 That of the mournful prisoner the groanings he might hear, To set them free that unto death by men appointed are:
21 That they in Sion may declare the Lord’s most holy name, And publish in Jerusalem the praises of the same;
22 When as the people gather shall in troops with one accord, When kingdoms shall assembled be to serve the highest Lord.