Psalm 102 (Tate & Brady)

1 When I pour out my soul in pray'r,

do thou, O Lord, attend;

To thy eternal throne of grace

let my sad cry ascend.

2 O hide not thou thy glorious face

in times of deep distress;

Incline thine ear, and, when I call,

my sorrows soon redress.

3 Each cloudy portion of my life

like scattered smoke expires;

My shriveled bones are like a hearth

parched with continual fires.

4 My heart, like grass that feels the blast

of some infectious wind,

Does languish so with grief, that scarce

my needful food I mind.

5 By reason of my sad estate

I spend my breath in groans;

My flesh is worn away, my skin

scarce hides my starting bones.

6 I'm like a pelican become,

that does in deserts mourn;

Or like an owl, that sits all day

on barren trees forlorn.

7 In watchings or in restless dreams

the night by me is spent,

As by those solitary birds

that lonesome roofs frequent.

8 All day by railing foes I'm made

the subject of their scorn;

Who all, possessed with furious rage,

have my destruction sworn.

9 When grov'ling on the ground I lie,

oppressed with grief and fears,

My bread is strewed with ashes o'er,

my drink is mixed with tears.

10 Because on me with double weight

thy heavy wrath doth lie;

For thou, to make my fall more great,

didst lift me up on high.

11 My days, just hast'ning, to their end,

are like an evening shade;

My beauty does, like withered grass,

with waning luster fade.

12 But thy eternal state, O Lord,

no length of time shall waste;

The mem'ry of thy wondrous works

from age to age shall last.

13 Thou shalt arise, and Sion view

with an unclouded face;

For now her time is come, thy own

appointed day of grace.

14 Her scattered ruins by thy saints

with pity are surveyed;

They grieve to see her lofty spires

in dust and rubbish laid.

15,16

The Name and glory of the Lord

all heathen kings shall fear;

When he shall Sion build again,

and in full state appear.

17,18

When he regards the poor's request,

nor slights their earnest pray'r;

Our sons, for this recorded grace,

shall his just praise declare.

19 For God, from his abode on high,

his gracious beams displayed:

The Lord from heav'n, his lofty throne,

has all the earth surveyed.

20 He listened to the captives' moans,

he heard their mournful cry,

And freed by his resistless pow'r

the wretches doomed to die.

21 That they in Zion, where he dwells,

might celebrate his fame,

And through the holy city sing

loud praises to his Name.

22 When all the tribes assembling there

their solemn vows address,

And neighb'ring lands, with glad consent,

the Lord their God confess.

23 But, ere my race is run, my strength

through his fierce wrath decays;

He has, when all my wishes bloomed,

cut short my hopeful days.

24 Lord, end not thou my life, said I,

when half is scarcely past:

Thy years, from worldly changes free,

to endless ages last.

25 The strong foundations of the earth

of old by thee were laid;

Thy hands the beauteous arch of heav'n

with wondrous skill have made.

26,27

Whilst thou for ever shall endure,

they soon shall pass away;

And, like a garment often worn,

shall tarnish and decay.

Like that, when thou ordain'st their change,

to thy command they bend:

But thou continu'st still the same,

nor have thy years an end.

28 Thou to the children of thy saints

shall lasting quiet give;

Whose happy race, securely fixed,

shall in thy presence live.