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Psalm 102
The Message
Psalm 102
The Message
102 1-2 God, listen! Listen to my prayer,
listen to the pain in my cries.
Don’t turn your back on me
just when I need you so desperately.
Pay attention! This is a cry for help!
And hurry—this can’t wait!
3-11 I’m wasting away to nothing,
I’m burning up with fever.
I’m a ghost of my former self,
half-consumed already by terminal illness.
My jaws ache from gritting my teeth;
I’m nothing but skin and bones.
I’m like a buzzard in the desert,
a crow perched on the rubble.
Insomniac, I twitter away,
mournful as a sparrow in the gutter.
All day long my enemies taunt me,
while others just curse.
They bring in meals—casseroles of ashes!
I draw drink from a barrel of my tears.
And all because of your furious anger;
you swept me up and threw me out.
There’s nothing left of me—
a withered weed, swept clean from the path.
12-17 Yet you, God, are sovereign still,
always and ever sovereign.
You’ll get up from your throne and help Zion—
it’s time for compassionate help.
Oh, how your servants love this city’s rubble
and weep with compassion over its dust!
The godless nations will sit up and take notice
—see your glory, worship your name—
When God rebuilds Zion,
when he shows up in all his glory,
When he attends to the prayer of the wretched.
He won’t dismiss their prayer.
18-22 Write this down for the next generation
so people not yet born will praise God:
“God looked out from his high holy place;
from heaven he surveyed the earth.
He listened to the groans of the doomed,
he opened the doors of their death cells.”
Write it so the story can be told in Zion,
so God’s praise will be sung in Jerusalem’s streets
And wherever people gather together
along with their rulers to worship him.
23-28 God sovereignly brought me to my knees,
he cut me down in my prime.
“Oh, don’t,” I prayed, “please don’t let me die.
You have more years than you know what to do with!
You laid earth’s foundations a long time ago,
and handcrafted the very heavens;
You’ll still be around when they’re long gone,
threadbare and discarded like an old suit of clothes.
You’ll throw them away like a worn-out coat,
but year after year you’re as good as new.
Your servants’ children will have a good place to live
and their children will be at home with you.”
Psalm 102
New International Version
Psalm 102
New International Version
Psalm 102[a]
A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer,(A) Lord;
let my cry for help(B) come to you.
2 Do not hide your face(C) from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear(D) to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
3 For my days vanish like smoke;(E)
my bones(F) burn like glowing embers.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;(G)
I forget to eat my food.(H)
5 In my distress I groan aloud(I)
and am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,(J)
like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake;(K) I have become
like a bird alone(L) on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies(M) taunt me;(N)
those who rail against me use my name as a curse.(O)
9 For I eat ashes(P) as my food
and mingle my drink with tears(Q)
10 because of your great wrath,(R)
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like the evening shadow;(S)
I wither(T) away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;(U)
your renown endures(V) through all generations.(W)
13 You will arise(X) and have compassion(Y) on Zion,
for it is time(Z) to show favor(AA) to her;
the appointed time(AB) has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear(AC) the name of the Lord,
all the kings(AD) of the earth will revere your glory.
16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion(AE)
and appear in his glory.(AF)
17 He will respond to the prayer(AG) of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.
18 Let this be written(AH) for a future generation,
that a people not yet created(AI) may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked down(AJ) from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners(AK)
and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared(AL) in Zion
and his praise(AM) in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship(AN) the Lord.
23 In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.(AO)
24 So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on(AP) through all generations.
25 In the beginning(AQ) you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens(AR) are the work of your hands.(AS)
26 They will perish,(AT) but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,(AU)
and your years will never end.(AV)
28 The children of your servants(AW) will live in your presence;
their descendants(AX) will be established before you.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 102:1 In Hebrew texts 102:1-28 is numbered 102:2-29.
- Psalm 102:23 Or By his power
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.