Psalm 102:1-11
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 102[a]
Prayer of an Exile
1 The prayer of one afflicted. When he is wasting away[b] and pours out his anguish before the Lord.
2 [c]O Lord, give heed to my prayer;
let my plea for help reach you.
3 Do not conceal your face[d] from my sight
in the time of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
on the day when I call out to you, answer me speedily.
4 For my days are fading away like smoke,
and my bones are burning like live coals.
5 My heart[e] is stricken, withered like grass;
I am too exhausted to eat my bread.
6 As a result of my incessant groaning,
I am now nothing more than skin and bones.
7 I am like a pelican[f] of the wilderness,
like an owl among the ruins.
8 I am sleepless[g] and I moan
like a lone sparrow on a rooftop.
9 All day long my enemies revile me;[h]
those who rage against me use my name as a curse.
10 [i]I eat ashes as though they were bread,
and I mingle tears with my drink.
11 Because of your indignation and wrath,
you have raised me up only to cast me down.
Footnotes
- Psalm 102:1 Known as the fifth of the seven Penitential Psalms (Pss 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), this psalm combines the lament of an afflicted person overwhelmed with pain and the prayer of the community of poor returned exiles waiting to be able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, their holy city. It shows that humanity and the universe pass away, while God remains (vv. 12-13, 26, 28). This is the proof of the Lord’s power and the reason for their hopes.
It is also the reason for the hopes of Christians, since we know that in Jesus and in his Church, God has built an imperishable dwelling place for his people, a point emphasized by the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 1:10-12) when it comments on verses 26-28 of this psalm. - Psalm 102:1 This superscription is unique, giving neither author nor liturgical or historical note; instead it assigns the prayer to a life situation—when one afflicted is close to giving up, i.e., wasting away (see Pss 61:3; 77:4; 142:4; 143:4).
- Psalm 102:2 One day, possibly during a grave sickness, the psalmist reaches the bitter conclusion of the inconsistency of human life. And the supreme outrage is that all who see him attribute his sad state to punishment sent by God, for his prayer and repentance receive no answer. The poor man experiences the depths of anguish where everything is falling apart; he can do nothing except cry out to God.
- Psalm 102:3 Conceal your face: see note on Ps 13:2.
- Psalm 102:5 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8. Withered like grass: see note on Ps 90:5.
- Psalm 102:7 Pelican: a bird that in Christian times became a symbol of Christ all alone in Gethsemane and of the Eucharist. The word is also translated as “owl.” Owl: a symbol of desolateness and destruction (see Isa 34:11, 15; Jer 50:39; Zep 2:14).
- Psalm 102:8 I am sleepless: some translations omit the words: “and I moan.”
- Psalm 102:9 Enemies revile me: see note on Ps 5:10; see also Ps 109:25. Use my name as a curse: his enemies point him out as an example of divine malediction, saying: “May you become as wretched as so-and-so.”
- Psalm 102:10 The Israelites indicated their penance externally by covering their heads with ashes and uttering lamentation accompanied by copious tears. To obtain God’s pity, the sick psalmist does not hold back. He covers himself with such an abundance of ashes that they are interspersed with his food, and he gives way to so many tears that they mingle with his drink. All the same, he is inexorably on his way toward death.
