Psalms 102:1-28
1 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.a
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 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.
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 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 weakenedb 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.
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:c 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.
CII. The title, which is unique in the Psalter, describes the contents of Psalms 102:1 very well. So far the Ps. is the prayer of a man in extreme affliction. The same may be said of Psalms 102:23 and Psalms 102:24 a. But the theme which occupies the rest of the Ps. is quite different and indeed contrary. The poet turns to the eternal life of Yahweh. He has already built up Zion: His glory has appeared: not only the Jews but other peoples and kingdoms are to serve Yahweh. We may try to evade this difficulty by treating the perfect verbs as futures of prophetic certainty. Thus in Psalms 102:16 the translation would be Yahweh shall build up Zion: and so in other cases. This explanation may be right. It is, however, more probable that Psalms 102:1 is the prayer of an individual sufferer; that a later poet misunderstood the meaning and took the sufferer to be Israel personified, and then appended new verses to the older poem, predicting Israel's glory and the advent of the Messianic age. Thus the Ps. was adapted to Temple use. It bears no mark of date except that Psalms 102:2 agrees almost verbally with Psalms 69:17. Now Psalms 69 is certainly Maccabean, and as the Ps. before us is full of thoughts which are reminiscences of other Pss., of Job and Is., and has little or no originality, it is probably later than Psalms 69.
Psalms 102:5. Emend, My flesh cleaves to my bones. An emaciated man does look as if his flesh was drawn tight to his bones. In the case of every man the bones cleave to the flesh.
Psalms 102:6. pelican: what bird is meant is not known.
Psalms 102:8. do curse by me (see Jeremiah 29:22).