Psalm 102

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

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

102:1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! ²Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!

³For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. ⁴My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. ⁵Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. ⁶I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl[1] of the waste places; ⁷I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. ⁸All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. ⁹For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, ¹⁰because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. ¹¹My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. ¹³You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. ¹⁴For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. ¹⁵Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. ¹⁶For the Lord builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; ¹⁷he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: ¹⁹that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, ²⁰to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, ²¹that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, ²²when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

²³He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days. ²⁴“O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!”

²⁵Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ²⁶They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, ²⁷ but you are the same, and your years have no end. ²⁸The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

[1] The precise identity of these birds is uncertain

Psalm 103

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

103:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! ²Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, ³who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, ⁴who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, ⁵who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. ⁷He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. ⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. ⁹He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. ¹⁰He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; ¹²as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. ¹³As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. ¹⁴For he knows our frame;[2] he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; ¹⁶for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. ¹⁷But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, ¹⁸to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. ¹⁹The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! ²¹Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! ²²Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

[2] Or knows how we are formed