O Lord, now hear my mournful prayer

1 O LORD, now hear my mournful pray'r,
And let my cry come up to Thee!
2 In this the day of my distress,
Hide not thy face away from me:
Thine ear to me, O do Thou bend,
In this my time of pressing need,
Wherein I cry aloud to Thee:
O hear and answer me with speed!

3 For as the smoke my days consume,
My bones burnt like an hearth decay;
4 My heart with sorrow smitten is
And with'red like the grass away.
So swallow'd up with grief am I,
That I my bread forget to taste.
5 By reason of my groaning voice
My bones ev'n to my skin cleave fast.

6 I'm like a mourning pelican,
In the sad wilderness alone;
Or bittern in a desart place,
Who nightly makes a dismal moan.
7 I keep awake all night and am
Like to a sparrow all alone,
That on the house-top watching sits,
And for her company hath none.

8 All day my foe reproaches me,
And mad with rage, against me swears;
9 That for my bread I ashes eat,
And mix my drink with streaming tears.
10 Thine anger is the cause of all,
Thy wrath which on me dreadful frown'd;
For Thou didst raise me up aloft,
And now hast cast me to the ground.

[2 Part]
11 Like shadows are my days declin'd;
And like the wither'd grass I fall:
12 But LORD, Thou ever dost abide,
Thy memory to ages all.
13 Thou wilt arise; to Zion dear
Wilt now thy tender mercy show;
For now 'tis time to favour her.
Yea the appointed time is Now.

14 For in the very stones thereof
Thy servants take a great delight,
And even her despised dust
Is ever precious in their sight.
15 So all the heathen nations round,
Shall fear JEBOVAH's holy name;
And all the Kings on earth shall see
Thy glory, and revere the same.

16 For when the LORD shall Zion build,
He in his glory will appear;
17 The poor's petition He'll regard,
And He will not despise their pray'r.
18 This shall in writ enrolled be,
For every succeeding race;
That so the people to be form'd
Th' eternal JAH may ever praise.

19 From heav'n his height of holiness,
The LORD looks down on earth to see,
20 To hear the pris'ners dismal groans,
And the bound sons of death to free;
21 JEHOVAH's name in Zion-hill,
His praise in Salem to declare;
22 When people meet to serve the LORD,
And kingdoms to adore Him there.

[3 Part]
23 Weak in the way my strength He made,
And of my life cut short the day.
24 In midst of my few days, I cry'd,
My God, O take me not away.
Thy years throughout all ages stay:
25 Thou hast the earth's foundations laid
In elder time: and heav'ns above
Are works that thine own hands have made.

26 They perish shall: but Thou shalt last,
And they shall old like garments wear:
Thou as a vesture shalt them change,
And they shall changed quite appear.
27 But Thou the same abidest still,
And of thy years no end shall be;
28 Thy servants race continue shall,
Their seed establish'd be with Thee.

Source: The Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New Testament, faithfully translated into English Metre: being the New-England Psalm-Book, revised and improved... (2nd ed.) #PCII