102 ^(C)Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry ^(D)come to you!
^2 (E)Do not hide your face from me
    in ^(F)the day of my distress!
^(G)Incline your ear to me;
    ^(H)answer me speedily ^(I)in the day when I call!
³ For my days ^(J)pass away like smoke,
    and my ^(K)bones burn like a furnace.
⁴ My heart is ^(L)struck down like grass and ^(M)has withered;
    I ^(N)forget to eat my bread.
⁵ Because of my loud groaning
    my ^(O)bones cling to my flesh.
⁶ I am like ^(P)a desert owl of the wilderness,
    like an owl^[a] of the waste places;
⁷ I ^(Q)lie awake;
    I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
⁸ All the day my enemies taunt me;
    those who ^(R)deride me ^(S)use my name for a curse.
⁹ For I eat ashes like bread
    and ^(T)mingle tears with my drink,
¹⁰ because of your indignation and anger;
    for you have ^(U)taken me up and ^(V)thrown me down.
¹¹ My days are like ^(W)an evening shadow;
    I ^(X)wither away like grass.
¹² But you, O Lord, are ^(Y)enthroned for ever;
    you ^(Z)are remembered throughout all generations.
¹³ You will ^(AA)arise and have ^(AB)pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favour her;
    ^(AC)the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ For your servants hold her ^(AD)stones dear
    and have pity on her dust.
¹⁵ Nations will ^(AE)fear the name of the Lord,
    and all ^(AF)the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord ^(AG)builds up Zion;
    he ^(AH)appears in his glory;
¹⁷ he ^(AI)regards the prayer of the destitute
    and does not despise their prayer.
¹⁸ Let this be ^(AJ)recorded for ^(AK)a generation to come,
    so that ^(AL)a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
¹⁹ that he ^(AM)looked down from his holy height;
    from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
²⁰ to hear ^(AN)the groans of the prisoners,
    to set free ^(AO)those who were doomed to die,
²¹ that they may ^(AP)declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
    and in Jerusalem his praise,
²² when ^(AQ)peoples gather together,
    and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
²³ He has broken my strength in midcourse;
    he ^(AR)has shortened my days.
²⁴ “O my God,” ^(AS)I say, “take me not away
    in the midst of my days—
^(AT)you whose years endure
    throughout all generations!”
^25 (AU)Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
    and ^(AV)the heavens are the work of your hands.
^26 (AW)They will perish, but ^(AX)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 ^(AY)you are the same, and your years have no end.
^28 (AZ)The children of your servants ^(BA)shall dwell secure;
    ^(BB)their offspring shall be established before you.

42 ^(A)Behold ^(B)my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, ^(C)in whom my soul delights;
^(D)I have put my Spirit upon him;
    ^(E)he will bring forth justice to the nations.
² He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
^3 (F)a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    ^(G)he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴ He will not grow faint or be discouraged^[a]
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and ^(H)the coastlands wait for his law.
⁵ Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens ^(I)and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
^(J)who gives breath to the people on it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶ “I am the Lord; ^(K)I have called you in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you ^(L)as a covenant for the people,
    ^(M)a light for the nations,
^{7     (N)}to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    ^(O)from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸ I am the Lord; that is my name;
    ^(P)my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to carved idols.
⁹ Behold, the former things have come to pass,
    ^(Q)and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
    I tell you of them.”

^10 (R)Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the end of the earth,
^(S)you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
    ^(T)the coastlands and their inhabitants.
¹¹ Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
    the villages that ^(U)Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of ^(V)Sela sing for joy,
    let them shout from the top of the mountains.
¹² Let them give glory to the Lord,
    and declare his praise in ^(W)the coastlands.
^13 (X)The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
    like a man of war ^(Y)he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, ^(Z)he shouts aloud,
    he shows himself mighty against his foes.
¹⁴ For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out ^(AA)like a woman in labour;
    I will gasp and pant.
^15 (AB)I will lay waste mountains and hills,
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,^[b]
    and dry up the pools.
^16 (AC)And I will lead the blind
    in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    ^(AD)the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
    and I do not forsake them.
^17 (AE)They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
    who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
    “You are our gods.”

¹⁸ Hear, you deaf,
    and look, you blind, that you may see!
¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant,
    or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,^[c]
    or blind as the servant of the Lord?
^20 (AF)He sees many things, but does not observe them;
    ^(AG)his ears are open, but he does not hear.
²¹ The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
    to magnify his law and make it glorious.
²² But this is a people plundered and looted;
    they are all of them trapped in holes
    ^(AH)and hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
    spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
²³ Who among you will give ear to this,
    will attend and listen for the time to come?
²⁴ Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
    and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
    in whose ways they would not walk,
    and whose law they would not obey?
²⁵ So he poured on him the heat of his anger
    and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all round, ^(AI)but he did not understand;
    it burned him up, ^(AJ)but he did not take it to heart.