Hear my prayer, O LORD,
and let my cry come unto thee.
² Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble;
incline thine ear unto me:
in the day when I call answer me speedily.

³ For my days are consumed like smoke,
and my bones are burned as an hearth.
⁴ My heart is smitten,
and withered like grass;
so that I forget to eat my bread.
⁵ By reason of the voice of my groaning
my bones cleave to my skin.
⁶ I am like a pelican of the wilderness:
I am like an owl of the desert.
⁷ I watch,
and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
⁸ Mine enemies reproach me all the day;
and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread,
and mingled my drink with weeping,
¹⁰ Because of [From the face of] thine indignation and thy wrath:
for thou hast lifted me up,
and cast me down.
¹¹ My days are like a shadow that declineth;
and I am withered like grass.
¹² But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever;
and thy remembrance unto all generations [to generation and generation].

¹³ Thou shalt arise,
and have mercy upon Zion:
for the time to favour her,
yea, the set time,
is come.
¹⁴ For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
and favour the dust thereof.
¹⁵ So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD,
and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
¹⁶ When the LORD shall build up Zion,
he shall appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will regard the prayer of the destitute,
and not despise their prayer.

¹⁸ This shall be written for the generation to come:
and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
¹⁹ For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven did the LORD behold [gaze upon] the earth;
²⁰ To hear the groaning of the prisoner;
to loose those that are appointed to death;
²¹ To declare the name of the LORD in Zion,
and his praise in Jerusalem;
²² When the people are gathered together,
and the kingdoms,
to serve the LORD.

²³ He weakened my strength in the way;
he shortened my days.
²⁴ I said, O my God,
take me not away in the midst of my days:
thy years are throughout all generations [in generation of generations].
²⁵ Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth:
and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
²⁶ 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:
²⁷ But thou art the same,
and thy years shall have no end.
²⁸ The children of thy servants shall continue,
and their seed shall be established before thee.

* NOTE: On Opening and Closing Comments in the Psalms.
[Some commentators take the Psalm in Habakkuk 3 to be a standard model for the Psalms.
Habakkuk's Psalm begins with the name of the composer (Habakkuk) and a musical notation ("upon Shigionoth").
It closes with a dedication or a "send to" notice ("To the chief singer on my stringed instruments").
I have arranged similar material, where it is found in the Psalter, in accord with the model in Habakkuk.]