Psalm 101 (the Fifth Penitential Psalm)

Hear, O Lord, my prayer:

and let my cry come to Thee.

Turn not away Thy face from me:

in the day when I am in trouble,

incline Thine ear to me.

In that day soever I shall call upon Thee,

hear me speedily.

For my days are vanished like smoke:

and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire.

I am smitten as grass,

and my heart is withered:

because I forgot to eat my bread.

Through the voice of my groaning,

my bone hath cleaved to my flesh.

I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness:

I am like a night raven in the house.

I have watched,

and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop.

All the day long my enemies reproached me:

and they that praised me did swear against me.

For I did eat ashes like bread,

an mingled my drink with weeping.

Because of Thine anger and indignation:

for having lifted me up Thou hast thrown me down.

My days have declined like a shadow,

and I am withered like grass.

But Thou, O Lord, endurest for ever:

and Thy memorial to all generations.

Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion:

for it is time to have mercy on it,

for the time is come.

For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants:

and they shall have pity on the earth thereof.

And the Gentiles shall fear Thy Name, O Lord,

and all the kings of the earth Thy glory.

For the Lord hath built up Sion:

and He shall be seen in His glory.

He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble:

and He hath not despised their petition.

Let these things be written unto another generation:

and the poeple that shall be created shall praise the Lord:

Because He hath looked forth from His high sanctuary:

from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.

That He might hear the groans of them that are in fetters:

that He might release the children of the slain:

That they may declare the Name of the Lord in Sion:

and His praise in Jerusalem.

When the people assemble together,

and kings, to serve the Lord.

He answered him in the way of His strength:

Declare unto me the fewness of my days.

Call me not away in the midst of my days:

Thy years are into generation and generation.

In the beginning, O Lord,

Thou foundest the earth;

and the heavens are the works of Thy hands.

They shall perish but Thou remainest:

and all of them shall grow old like a garment:

And as a vesture Thou shalt change them,

and they shall be changed.

But Thou are always the selfsame,

and Thy years shall not fail.

The children of Thy servants shall continue;

and their seed shall be directed for ever.

Glory be the the Father...