The Prayer of the Afflicted

1A prayer of the afflicted, when hee shall be in distresse, and poure foorth his meditation before the Lorde. O Lorde, heare my prayer, and let my crye come vnto thee.

2Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble: incline thine eares vnto me: when I call, make haste to heare me.

3For my dayes are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt like an herthe.

4Mine heart is smitten and withereth like grasse, because I forgate to eate my bread.

5For the voyce of my groning my bones doe cleaue to my skinne.

6I am like a pelicane of the wildernesse: I am like an owle of the deserts.

7I watch and am as a sparrowe alone vpon the house top.

8Mine enemies reuile me dayly, and they that rage against me, haue sworne against me.

9Surely I haue eaten asshes as bread, and mingled my drinke with weeping,

10Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast heaued me vp, and cast me downe.

11My dayes are like a shadowe that fadeth, and I am withered like grasse.

12But thou, O Lorde, doest remaine for euer, and thy remembrance from generation to generation.

13Thou wilt arise & haue mercy vpon Zion: for the time to haue mercie thereon, for the appointed time is come.

14For thy seruants delite in the stones thereof, and haue pitie on the dust thereof.

15Then the heathen shall feare the Name of the Lord, and all the Kings of the earth thy glory,

16When the Lorde shall build vp Zion, and shall appeare in his glory,

17And shall turne vnto the prayer of the desolate, and not despise their prayer.

18This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people, which shalbe created, shall prayse the Lord.

19For he hath looked downe from the height of his Sanctuarie: out of the heauen did the Lord beholde the earth,

20That he might heare the mourning of the prisoner, and deliuer the children of death:

21That they may declare the Name of the Lord in Zion, and his prayse in Ierusalem,

22When the people shalbe gathered together, and the kingdomes to serue the Lorde.

23He abated my strength in the way, and shortened my dayes.

24And I sayd, O my God, take me not away in the middes of my dayes: thy yeeres endure from generation to generation.

25Thou hast aforetime layde the foundation of the earth, and the heauens are the worke of thine hands.

26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: euen they all shall waxe olde as doeth a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.

27But thou art the same, and thy yeeres shall not fayle.

28The children of thy seruants shall continue, and their seede shall stand fast in thy sight.