The Seven Penitential Psalms

[Stone]

Psalm 101

David laments over the captivity of God's people in Babylon, and prays for the restoration of Sion.
His words are appropriate for the soul, who grieves over her sins, and implores to be regenerated by grace.

Domine, exaudi orationem meam, et clamor meus ad te veniat. Non avertas faciem tuam a me; in quacumque die tribulor, inclina ad me aurem tuam; in quacumque die invocavero te, velociter exaudi me. Quia defecerunt sicut fumus dies mei, et ossa mea sicut cremium aruerunt. Percussus sum ut foenum, et aruit cor meum, quia oblitus sum comedere panem meum. A voce gemitus mei adhaesit os meum carni meae. Similis factus sum pellicano solitudinis; factus sum sicut nycticorax in domicilio. Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto. Tota die exprobrabant mihi inimici mei, et qui laudabant me adversum me jurabant: quia cinerem tamquam panem manducabam, et potum meum cum fletu miscebam; a facie irae et indignationis tuae, quia elevans allisisti me. Dies mei sicut umbra declinaverunt, et ego sicut foenum arui. Tu autem, Domine, in aeternum permanes, et memoriale tuum in generationem et generationem. Tu exsurgens misereberis Sion, quia tempus miserendi ejus, quia venit tempus; quoniam placuerunt servis tuis lapides ejus, et terrae ejus miserebuntur. Et timebunt gentes nomen tuum, Domine, et omnes reges terrae gloriam tuam; quia aedificavit Dominus Sion, et videbitur in gloria sua. Respexit in orationem humilium et non sprevit precem eorum. Scribantur haec in generatione altera, et populus qui creabitur laudabit Dominum. Quia prospexit de excelso sancto suo, Dominus de caelo in terram aspexit; ut audiret gemitus compeditorum, ut solveret filios interemptorum; ut annuntient in Sion nomen Domini, et laudem ejus in Jerusalem, in conveniendo populos in unum, et reges ut serviant Domino. Respondit ei in via virtutis suae: Paucitatem dierum meorum nuntia mihi: ne revoces me in dimidio dierum meorum, in generationem et generationem anni tui. Initio tu, Domine, terram fundasti, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli. Ipsi peribunt, tu autem permanes; et omnes sicut vestimentum veterascent. Et sicut opertorium mutabis eos, et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient. Filii servorum tuorum habitabunt; et semen eorum in saeculum dirigetur. 


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 thy ear to me. In what 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, and mingled my drink with weeping. Because of thy 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 people 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 (the royal prophet, longing to see these glorious days) 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 unto generation and generation. In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst 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 art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail. The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.