¹A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.

²Hide 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.

³For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

⁴My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

⁵By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

⁷I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

⁸Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,

¹⁰Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.

¹¹My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

¹²But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.

¹³Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.

¹⁴For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.

¹⁵So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

¹⁶When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

¹⁷He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

¹⁸This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

¹⁹For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;

²⁰To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

²¹To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

²²When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

²³He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

²⁴I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.

²⁵Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

²⁶They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:

²⁷But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

²⁸The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

¹Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

²Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

³Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

⁵For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

⁶If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

⁷But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

⁸For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

⁹This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

¹⁰For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

¹¹These things command and teach.

¹²Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

¹³Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

¹⁴Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

¹⁵Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

¹⁶Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.