A Prayer of the afflicted, when he {Or, fainteth}is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah.
Hear my prayer, O Jehovah,
And let my cry come unto thee.
Hide not thy face from me in the day of my distress:
Incline thine ear unto me;
In the day when I call answer me speedily.
For my days consume away {Or, in smoke}like smoke,
And my bones are burned {Or, as a hearth}as a firebrand.
My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;
For I forget to eat my bread.
By reason of the voice of my groaning
My bones cleave to my flesh.
I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am become as an owl of the waste places.
I watch, and am become like a sparrow
That is alone upon the house-top.
Mine enemies reproach me all the day;
They that are mad against me do curse by me.
For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
Because of thine indignation and thy wrath:
For thou hast taken me up, and cast me away.
My days are like a shadow that {Or, is stretched out}declineth;
And I am withered like grass.
But thou, O Jehovah, {Or, sittest as King}wilt abide for ever;
And thy memorial name unto all generations.
Thou wilt arise, and have mercy upon Zion;
For it is time to have pity upon her,
Yea, the set time is come.
For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
And have pity upon her dust.
So the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah,
And all the kings of the earth thy glory.
For Jehovah hath built up Zion;
He hath appeared in his glory.
He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute,
And hath not despised their prayer.
This shall be written for the generation to come;
And a people which shall be created shall praise {Hebrew: Jah.}Jehovah.
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
From heaven did Jehovah behold the earth;
To hear the sighing of the prisoner;
To loose {Hebrew: the children of death.}those that are appointed to death;
That men may declare the name of Jehovah in Zion,
And his praise in Jerusalem;
When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah.
He {Another reading is, afflicted me with his strength.}weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days:
Thy years are throughout all generations.
Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth;
And the heavens are the work of thy hands.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure;
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;
As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
But thou art the same,
And thy years shall have no end.
The children of thy servants shall continue,
And their seed shall be established before thee.
Querverweise zu Psalm 102,17 Ps 102,17
For the needy shall not alway be forgotten,Nor the expectation of the {Or, meek}poor perish for ever.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;Neither hath he hid his face from him;But when he cried unto him, he heard.
For he will deliver the needy when he crieth,And the poor, {Or, and he that hath}that hath no helper.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see;And make their loins continually to shake.
But from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
For Jehovah will judge his people,And repent himself for his servants;When he seeth that their power is gone,And there is none remaining, shut up or left at large.
let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Yea, I and my father's house have sinned:
O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid.
And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come unto Judah;
and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's {Or, park}forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertaineth to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you {Hebrew: a latter end and hope.}hope in your latter end.
And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith Jehovah, and I will {Or, return to}turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again unto the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
And I set my face unto the Lord God, {Or, to seek after prayer &c.}to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed unto Jehovah my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments,
we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances;
neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; {Or, though}for we have rebelled against him;
neither have we obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him.
And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and {Or, deal wisely}have discernment in thy truth.
Therefore hath Jehovah watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, and we have not obeyed his voice.
And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
O Lord, according to all thy {Hebrew: righteousnesses.}righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us.
Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not {Hebrew: cause to fall.}present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies' sake.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;
yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, {Or, being sore wearied}being caused to fly swiftly, {Or, came near unto me}touched me about the time of the evening oblation.