² I pour out my complaints before him
    and tell him all my troubles.

¹⁶ Lord, in distress we searched for you.
    We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.

¹ Lord, hear my prayer!
    Listen to my plea!
² Don’t turn away from me
    in my time of distress.
Bend down to listen,
    and answer me quickly when I call to you.
³ For my days disappear like smoke,
    and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
⁴ My heart is sick, withered like grass,
    and I have lost my appetite.
⁵ Because of my groaning,
    I am reduced to skin and bones.
⁶ I am like an owl in the desert,
    like a little owl in a far-off wilderness.
⁷ I lie awake,
    lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
⁸ My enemies taunt me day after day.
    They mock and curse me.
⁹ I eat ashes for food.
    My tears run down into my drink
¹⁰ because of your anger and wrath.
    For you have picked me up and thrown me out.
¹¹ My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
    I am withering away like grass.

¹² But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever.
    Your fame will endure to every generation.
¹³ You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem^[a]—
    and now is the time to pity her,
    now is the time you promised to help.
¹⁴ For your people love every stone in her walls
    and cherish even the dust in her streets.
¹⁵ Then the nations will tremble before the Lord.
    The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem.
    He will appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
    He will not reject their pleas.

¹⁸ Let this be recorded for future generations,
    so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord.
¹⁹ Tell them the Lord looked down
    from his heavenly sanctuary.
He looked down to earth from heaven
²⁰     to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to release those condemned to die.
²¹ And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion,
    his praises in Jerusalem,
²² when multitudes gather together
    and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.

²³ He broke my strength in midlife,
    cutting short my days.
²⁴ But I cried to him, “O my God, who lives forever,
    don’t take my life while I am so young!
²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth
    and made the heavens with your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever;
    they will wear out like old clothing.
You will change them like a garment
    and discard them.
²⁷ But you are always the same;
    you will live forever.
²⁸ The children of your people
    will live in security.
Their children’s children
    will thrive in your presence.”

⁸ O my people, trust in him at all times.
    Pour out your heart to him,
    for God is our refuge. Interlude

⁴ My heart is breaking
    as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
    leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
    amid the sound of a great celebration!

⁴ The ropes of death entangled me;
    floods of destruction swept over me.
⁵ The grave^[a] wrapped its ropes around me;
    death laid a trap in my path.
⁶ But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
    yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
    my cry to him reached his ears.