The prayer of the afflicted
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A prayer of the afflicted, when he shall be in distresse, and pour forth his meditation before the Lord. O Lord, heare my prayer, and let my crye come vnto thee.
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Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble: incline thine eares vnto me: when I call, make haste to heare me.
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For my dayes are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt like an herthe.
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Mine heart is smitten and withereth like grasse, because I forgate to eate my bread.
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For the voyce of my groning my bones doe cleaue to my skinne.
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I am like a pelicane of the wildernesse: I am like an owle of the deserts.
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I watch and am as a sparrowe alone vpon the house top.
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Mine enemies reuile me dayly, and they that rage against me, haue sworne against me.
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Surely I haue eaten asshes as bread, and mingled my drinke with weeping,
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Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast heaued me vp, and cast me downe.
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My dayes are like a shadowe that fadeth, and I am withered like grasse.
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But thou, O Lord, doest remaine for euer, and thy remembrance from generation to generation.
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Thou wilt arise and haue mercy vpon Zion: for the time to haue mercie thereon, for the appointed time is come.
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For thy seruants delite in the stones thereof, and haue pitie on the dust thereof.
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Then the heathen shall feare the Name of the Lord, and all the Kings of the earth thy glory,
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When the Lord shall build vp Zion, and shall appeare in his glory,
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And shall turne vnto the prayer of the desolate, and not despise their prayer.
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This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people, which shalbe created, shall prayse the Lord.
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For he hath looked downe from the height of his Sanctuarie: out of the heauen did the Lord beholde the earth,
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That he might heare the mourning of the prisoner, and deliuer the children of death:
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That they may declare the Name of the Lord in Zion, and his prayse in Ierusalem,
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When the people shalbe gathered together, and the kingdomes to serue the Lord.
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He abated my strength in the way, and shortened my dayes.
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And I sayd, O my God, take me not away in the middes of my dayes: thy yeeres endure from generation to generation.
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Thou hast aforetime layde the foundation of the earth, and the heauens are the worke of thine hands.
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They 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.
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But thou art the same, and thy yeeres shall not fayle.
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The children of thy seruants shall continue, and their seede shall stand fast in thy sight.