Scripture Verse

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee. Psalm 102:1

Introduction

portrait
Johann Haydn (1737–1806)

Words: From The Psal­ter (Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia: Unit­ed Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Pub­li­ca­tion, 1912), num­ber 272.

Music: Ho­ly Com­mun­ion Jo­hann M. Hay­dn (1737–1806) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Lord, hear my pray­er, and let my cry
Have rea­dy ac­cess unto Thee;
When in dis­tress to Thee I fly,
O hide not Thou Thy face from me.
Attend, O Lord, to my de­sire,
O haste to an­swer when I pray;
For grief con­sumes my strength like fire,
My days as smoke pass swift away.

My heart is wi­thered like the grass,
And I for­get my dai­ly bread;
In lone­ly grief my days I pass
And sad my thoughts up­on my bed.
My foes re­proach me all the day,
My drink is tears, my bread is grief,
For in Thy wrath I pine away,
My days are like a fad­ing leaf.

But Thou, Je­ho­vah, shalt en­dure,
Thy throne for­ev­er is the same;
And to all ge­ne­ra­tions sure
Shall be Thy great me­mo­ri­al name.
The time for Zi­on’s help is near,
The time ap­point­ed in Thy love;
O let Thy gra­cious aid ap­pear,
Look Thou in mer­cy from above.

O Lord, re­gard the pray­er of those
Who love the walls of Zi­on well,
Whose hearts are hea­vy for her woes,
Who sad amid her ru­ins dwell.
Thy pow­er and glo­ry shall ap­pear,
And Zi­on’s walls shall be re­stored;
Then all the kings of earth shall fear
And hea­then na­tions serve the Lord.

The Lord, ex­alt­ed on His throne,
Looked down from Heav’n with pi­ty­ing eye
To still the low­ly cap­tive’s moan
And save His peo­ple doomed to die.
All men in Zi­on shall de­clare
His gra­cious name with one ac­cord,
When kings and na­tions ga­ther there
To serve and wor­ship God the Lord.