1 A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come before You. 2 Do not hide Your face from me in my day of distress. Incline Your ear to me; answer me quickly when I call. 3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers. 4 My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread. 5 Through my loud groaning my skin hangs on my bones. 6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. 7 I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop. 8 All day long my enemies taunt me; they ridicule me and curse me. 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears 10 because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside. 11 My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass. 12 But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations. 13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor—the appointed time has come. 14 For Your servants delight in her stones and take pity on her dust. 15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory. 16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory. 17 He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer. 18 Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD. 19 For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth 20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death, 21 that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem, 22 when peoples and kingdoms assemble to serve the LORD. 23 He has broken my strength on the way; He has cut short my days. 24 I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days! Your years go on through all generations. 25 In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26 They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on. 27 But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. 28 The children of Your servants will dwell securely, and their descendants will be established before You.”
Psalms · Majority Standard Bible
Psalm 102 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 18:6; Psalm 130:1–2; Exodus 2:23; Psalm 61:2; Psalm 142:2–3
- 2 Psalm 69:17; Psalm 27:9; Isaiah 8:17; Psalm 70:1; Psalm 88:2–18
- 3 James 4:14; Psalm 31:10; Lamentations 1:13; Job 30:30; Psalm 37:20
- 4 Isaiah 40:7; Psalm 37:2; Ezra 10:6; Acts 9:9; Matthew 26:37–38
- 5 Job 19:20; Proverbs 17:22; Lamentations 4:8; Psalm 32:3–4; Psalm 38:8–10
- 6 Zephaniah 2:14; Isaiah 38:14; Revelation 18:2; Isaiah 34:11–15; Job 30:29–30
- 7 Psalm 77:4; Lamentations 3:28–30; Mark 14:33–37; Psalm 130:6; Job 7:13–16
- 8 Acts 26:11; Romans 15:3; Psalm 69:9–10; Acts 23:12–35; Isaiah 65:15
- 9 Psalm 42:3; Job 3:24; Isaiah 44:20; Psalm 80:5; Lamentations 3:48–49
- 10 Psalm 38:3; 2 Corinthians 4:9; Lamentations 1:18; Psalm 90:7–9; Romans 3:19
- 11 Job 14:2; Psalm 109:23; Psalm 144:4; 1 Peter 1:24; James 4:14
- 12 Psalm 135:13; Lamentations 5:19; Exodus 3:15; Hebrews 13:8; Psalm 9:7
- 13 Galatians 4:4; Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 60:1; Psalm 44:26; Psalm 69:35–36
- 14 Nehemiah 4:2; Ezra 1:5; Nehemiah 2:17; Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 4:10
- 15 1 Kings 8:43; Psalm 138:4; Isaiah 60:3–22; Zechariah 8:20–23; Revelation 11:15
- 16 Isaiah 60:1–2; Jeremiah 33:7; Psalm 147:2; Isaiah 2:2–3; Jeremiah 31:4
- 17 Nehemiah 1:6; Psalm 22:24; Psalm 72:12; Psalm 9:18; Jeremiah 29:11–14
- 18 Romans 15:4; Psalm 22:30–31; Isaiah 43:21; Psalm 78:4–6; 1 Peter 2:9–10
- 19 Deuteronomy 26:15; Psalm 14:2; Hebrews 9:23–24; 1 Kings 8:43; 2 Chronicles 16:9
- 20 Psalm 79:11; Psalm 146:7; Isaiah 61:1–3; Exodus 3:7; Zechariah 9:9–12
- 21 Psalm 22:22; Isaiah 51:11; 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 3:21; Psalm 79:13
- 22 Zechariah 8:20–23; Matthew 24:14; Isaiah 49:22–23; Isaiah 60:3–22; Psalm 22:27
- 23 Revelation 11:2–19; Psalm 89:38–47; 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12; Job 21:21; 2 Timothy 3:1–17
- 24 Habakkuk 1:12; Psalm 39:13; Isaiah 38:10–22; Psalm 102:12; Revelation 1:8
- 25 Genesis 1:1; Exodus 20:11; Jeremiah 32:17; Hebrews 1:10–12; Hebrews 3:3–4
- 26 Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35; Luke 21:33; Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 20:11
- 27 Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17; Malachi 3:6; Revelation 1:8; Psalm 90:4
- 28 Psalm 69:35–36; Psalm 45:16–17; Isaiah 66:22; Psalm 89:4; Psalm 90:16–17
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
In this Psalm, we ought to seek in the whole body of it what we find in the first verse: "Mercy and judgment will I sing unto Thee, O Lord" (ver. 1).
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
The children of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established for ever;" pointing out plainly what things they are that pass away, and who it is that doth endure for ever--God, together with His servants.
So, then, by a humble piety we return to Thee; and thou purgest us from our evil customs, and art merciful unto the sins of those who confess unto Thee, and dost "hear the groaning of the prisoner," and dost loosen us from those fetters which we have forged for ourselves, if we lift not up against Thee the horns …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
On this account also one hath said, "My days have failed like smoke." He indeed was referring to their shortness of duration, and to their unsubstantial nature, but I would say that we should take what is said, not in this sense alone, but also as to their turbid character.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Hear David the Prophet saying, Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands; they shall perish, but Thou remainest.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)