Comfort from the Word – Day 21

₉Be merciful to me, LORD,

for I am in trouble;

my eyes are tired from so much crying;

I am completely worn out.

₁₀I am exhausted by sorrow,

and weeping has shortened my life.

I am weak from all my troubles;

even my bones are wasting away.

₁₁All my enemies, and especially my neighbours,

treat me with contempt;

those who know me are afraid of me;

when they see me in the street, they run away.

₁₂Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead;

I am like something thrown away.

₂₂I was afraid and thought

that he had driven me out of his presence.

But he heard my cry,

when I called to him for help.

₅Because I have been foolish,

my sores stink and rot.

₆I am bowed down, I am crushed;

I mourn all day long.

₇I am burning with fever

and I am near to death.

₈I am worn out and utterly crushed;

my heart is troubled, and I groan with pain.

₉O Lord, you know what I long for;

you hear all my groans.

₁₀My heart is pounding, my strength is gone,

and my eyes have lost their brightness.

₂₁Do not abandon me, O LORD;

do not stay away, my God!

₂₂Help me now, O Lord my saviour!

₁As a deer longs for a stream of cool water,

so I long for you, O God.

₂I thirst for you, the living God;

when can I go and worship in your presence?

₃Day and night I cry,

and tears are my only food;

all the time my enemies ask me,

“Where is your God?”

₄My heart breaks when I remember the past,

when I went with the crowds to the house of God

and led them as they walked along,

a happy crowd, singing and shouting praise to God.

₅Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

₁I said, “I will be careful what I do

and will not let my tongue make me sin;

I will not say anything

while evil people are near.”

₂I kept quiet, not saying a word,

not even about anything good!

But my suffering only grew worse,

₃and I was overcome with anxiety.

The more I thought, the more troubled I became;

I could not keep from asking:

₄“LORD, how long will I live?

When will I die?

Tell me how soon my life will end.”

₅How short you have made my life!

In your sight my lifetime seems nothing.

Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind,

₆no more than a shadow.

All they do is for nothing;

they gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

₇What, then, can I hope for, Lord?

I put my hope in you.

₈Save me from all my sins,

and don't let fools laugh at me.

₉I will keep quiet, I will not say a word,

for you are the one who made me suffer like this.

₁₀Don't punish me any more!

I am about to die from your blows.

₁₁You punish our sins by your rebukes,

and like a moth you destroy what we love.

Indeed we are no more than a puff of wind!

₁₂Hear my prayer, LORD,

and listen to my cry;

come to my aid when I weep.

Like all my ancestors

I am only your guest for a little while.

₁₃Leave me alone so that I may have some happiness

before I go away and am no more.

₁As a deer longs for a stream of cool water,

so I long for you, O God.

₂I thirst for you, the living God;

when can I go and worship in your presence?

₃Day and night I cry,

and tears are my only food;

all the time my enemies ask me,

“Where is your God?”

₄My heart breaks when I remember the past,

when I went with the crowds to the house of God

and led them as they walked along,

a happy crowd, singing and shouting praise to God.

₅Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

_6-7Here in exile my heart is breaking,

and so I turn my thoughts to him.

He has sent waves of sorrow over my soul;

chaos roars at me like a flood,

like waterfalls thundering down to the Jordan

from Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar.

₈May the LORD show his constant love during the day,

so that I may have a song at night,

a prayer to the God of my life.

₉To God, my defender, I say,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go on suffering

from the cruelty of my enemies?”

₁₀I am crushed by their insults,

as they keep on asking me,

“Where is your God?”

₁₁Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

₁O God, declare me innocent,

and defend my cause against the ungodly;

deliver me from lying and evil people!

₂You are my protector;

why have you abandoned me?

Why must I go on suffering

from the cruelty of my enemies?

₃Send your light and your truth;

may they lead me

and bring me back to Zion, your sacred hill,

and to your Temple, where you live.

₄Then I will go to your altar, O God;

you are the source of my happiness.

I will play my harp and sing praise to you,

O God, my God.

₅Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

₁Hear my prayer, O God;

don't turn away from my plea!

₂Listen to me and answer me;

I am worn out by my worries.

₃I am terrified by the threats of my enemies,

crushed by the oppression of the wicked.

They bring trouble on me;

they are angry with me and hate me.

₄I am terrified,

and the terrors of death crush me.

₅I am gripped by fear and trembling;

I am overcome with horror.

₆I wish I had wings, like a dove.

I would fly away and find rest.

₇I would fly far away

and make my home in the desert.

₈I would quickly find myself a shelter

from the raging wind and the storm.