The prayer of the afflicted
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The prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out his supplication before the Lord.
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Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee.
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Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am in trouble, incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily.
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For my days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire.
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I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread.
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Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath cleaved to my flesh.
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I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night raven in the house.
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I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop.
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All the day long my enemies reproached me: and they that praised me did swear against me.
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For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.
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Because of thy anger and indignation: for having lifted me up thou hast thrown me down.
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My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass.
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But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all generations.
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Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have mercy on it, for the time is come.
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For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants: and they shall have pity on the earth thereof.
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And the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
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For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory.
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He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition.
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Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:
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Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.
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That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain:
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That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem;
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When the people assemble together, and kings, to serve the Lord.
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He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.
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Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation.
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In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.
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They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.
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But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail.
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The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.