Psalms 102
102
From Tears to Praise
A prayer for those who are overwhelmed and for all the discouraged who come to pour out their hearts before the Lord # 102 As translated from the Septuagint.
1Lord, listen to my prayer! Listen to my cry for help!
2You can’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress.
Stoop down to hear my prayer and answer me quickly, Lord!
3-4For my days of happiness have gone up in smoke.
My body is raging with fever, my heart is sick,
and I’m consumed by this illness—
withered like a dead leaf. I can’t even eat.
5I’m nothing but skin and bones.
Nothing’s left of me but whispered groans.
6I’m like a pelican of the wilderness, # 102:6 Ancient expositors viewed the “pelican in the wilderness” as a reference to Christ. The famous legend and much medieval artwork taught that the pelican would give the gift of blood to her starving young by piercing her own breast with her beak, allowing her young to drink her blood and live. What an amazing example of sacrificial love. Augustine writes concerning this: “The mother wounds herself deeply and pours forth her blood over her young, bathed in which they recover life.” See Augustine, “Exposition on the Book of Psalms,” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, ed. A. Cleveland Coxe and Philip Schaff (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1955), 8:497.
like an owl among the ruins.
7I’m sleepless, shivering in the cold, forlorn, and friendless,
like a lonely bird on the rooftop.
8My every enemy mocks and insults me incessantly.
They even use my name as a curse to speak over others!
9-10Because of your great and furious anger against me,
all I do is suffer with sorrow,
with nothing to eat but a meal of mourning. # 102:9–10 Or “I eat ashes as if they were bread.” Ashes speak of mourning, for mourners would often throw dust and ashes over their heads.
My crying fills my cup with salty tears!
In your wrath you have rejected me,
sweeping me away like dirt on the floor.
11My days are marked by the lengthening shadows of death.
I’m withering away and there’s nothing left of me.
12But then I remember that you, O Lord,
still sit enthroned as King over all!
The fame of your name will be revealed to every generation.
13I know you are about to arise and show your tender love to Zion.
Now is the time, Lord,
for your compassion and mercy to be poured out—
the appointed time has come
for your prophetic promises to be fulfilled!
14For your servants weep in sympathy over Zion’s ruins
and feel love for her every stone.
15When you arise to intervene,
all the nations and kings will be stunned
and will fear your awesome name, trembling before your glory!
16Yes, you will reveal yourself to Zion
and appear in the brightness of your glory
to restore her and give her children.
17He responds to the prayer of the poor and broken
and will not despise the cry of the homeless.
18Write all this down for the coming generation,
so re-created people # 102:18 Or “those born anew [re-created].” will read it and praise the Lord!
19Tell them how Yah # 102:19 Taken from Yahweh. Yah is often used as the name of the God of Power. looked down from his high and holy place,
gazing from his glory to survey the earth.
20He listened to all the groaning of his people longing to be free,
and he set loose the sons of death to experience life.
21Multitudes will stream to Jerusalem to
praise the Lord and declare his name in Zion!
22Peoples from every land, their kings and kingdoms,
will gather together to worship the Lord.
23But God has brought me to my knees, shortening my life.
24So I cry out to you, my God, Father of eternity,
please don’t let me die!
I know my life is not yet finished.
25With your hands you once formed the foundations of the earth
and handcrafted the heavens above.
26-27They will all fade away one day like worn-out clothing,
ready to be discarded, but you’ll still be here.
You will replace it all!
Your first creation will be changed,
but you alone will endure, the God of all eternity!
28Generation after generation our descendants will live securely,
for you are the one protecting us, keeping us for yourself.
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Psalms 102: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 102
102
Prayer to the Eternal King for Help
A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the Lord.
1Hear 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 stricken and withered like grass;
I am too wasted to eat my bread.
5Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my skin.
6I am like an owl of the wilderness,
like a little owl of the waste places.
7I lie awake;
I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
8All day long 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 lifted me up and thrown me aside.
11My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
12But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
your name endures to all generations.
13You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to favor it;
the appointed time has come.
14For your servants hold its stones dear,
and have pity on its dust.
15The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
16For the Lord will build up Zion;
he will appear in his glory.
17He will regard the prayer of the destitute,
and will not despise their prayer.
18Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet unborn 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;
21so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,
and his praise in Jerusalem,
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, “do not take me away
at the mid-point of my life,
you whose years endure
throughout all generations.”
25Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26They will perish, but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
27but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28The children of your servants shall live secure;
their offspring shall be established in your presence.
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.