Mine enemies reproach me all the day; _and_ they that are mad against
me are sworn against me.
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping;
Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me
up, and cast me down.
My days _are_ like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like
grass.
But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all
generations.
Thou shalt arise, _and_ have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour
her, yea, the set time, is come.
For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust
thereof.
So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of
the earth thy glory.
When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.
He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their
prayer.
This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which
shall be created shall praise the LORD.
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven
did the LORD behold the earth;
To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are
appointed to death;
To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the
LORD.
He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; thy years
_are_ throughout all generations.
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens
_are_ the work of thy hands.
They 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:
But thou _art_ the same, and thy years shall have no end.
The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be
established before thee.
This Psalm is a prayer of an afflicted and tempted heart, miserably
sighing and praying for deliverance and the coming of the kingdom of
God. And indeed the whole sum and substance of this Psalm is, “Thy
kingdom come.”
This Psalm may be used as a general prayer. It was used especially by
the fathers under the law: who being most spiritual men, and knowing
the infinite weight of sin, and the kingdom of death, longed for the
coming and revelation of Christ, the kingdom of grace, and the
blessing promised.
“Have mercy upon Zion (saith the Psalmist) for the time to have mercy
upon her is come.” For thy servants (saith he) long for her to be
built up again, and for the stones and cement to be made ready: that
is, they long for that grace and that blessing to be revealed unto all
nations, and to be preached in all kingdoms; that those who are
captives and in chains under the power of the devil and of sin, and
who are the sons of wrath and death, may be delivered; and that there
may flow together into the true Zion, the church of God, those out of
all nations and kingdoms, who may magnify the name of the Lord, and
may preach and hear the gospel, and that all the rigid demands and
ceremonies of the law, and the whole of the Old Testament
dispensation, may cease. For out of and without Christ there is
nothing but the kingdom of sin and death: that is, a continual misery
and distress in this life, by various and hard temptations of the
devil and the world: and also a shortness of life itself, and that
life changeable and uncertain, full of sorrow and full of death; which
life the godly consider it a “gain” to have shortened and finished: as
the apostle saith, “to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
But amidst all this misery, in Christ is consolation and eternal life;
for he is before every creature; he created the heaven and the earth,
and by him all things consist; and he also, in the regeneration, will
renew the heavens and the earth. Hence he is independent of and above
all time and years, and of his years there is no end. He now dies no
more, death hath no more dominion over him. For this kingdom of life
and of salvation (saith the Psalmist) we pray and long. May this
kingdom come. Amen.