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Psalm 102

Psalm 102 places a sufferer’s fading life and Zion’s hoped-for restoration before the God who outlasts creation itself.

An unnamed sufferer cries to YHWH while losing strength, forgetting food, and enduring enemies’ taunts. The heading describes someone overwhelmed and pouring out a complaint; it names no author or date. The prayer turns from the speaker’s fading life to God’s enduring rule and mercy toward Zion, whose stones and dust his servants cherish. After looking toward restored Jerusalem and gathered nations, the speaker returns to the fear of dying young and addresses the Creator whose years have no end.

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1A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, LORD! Let my cry come to you.
2Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
3For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
4My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.
5By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin.
6I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places.
7I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
8My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.
9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
10because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up and thrown me away.
11My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
12But you, LORD, will remain forever; your renown endures to all generations.
13You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
14For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust.
15So the nations will fear the LORD’s name, all the kings of the earth your glory.
16For the LORD has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.
17He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.
18This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise the LORD,
19for he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the LORD saw the earth,
20to hear the groans of the prisoner, to free those who are condemned to death,
21that men may declare the LORD’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
22when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days.
24I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.
25Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
26They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
27But you are the same. Your years will have no end.
28The children of your servants will continue. Their offspring will be established before you.”
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Key verses
Psalm 102:13The prayer widens from one person’s distress to confidence that God will act with mercy toward Zion.
Psalm 102:25Addressing God as the maker of earth and heavens places the speaker’s shortened days against the Creator’s enduring years.
Psalm 102:26Even the heavens will wear out, making God’s endurance the ground of hope beyond the speaker’s frailty.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah and Jeremiah share Psalm 102’s hope for Zion’s restoration, while Job shares its language of bodily suffering and a life passing away. Genesis shares its witness to God as maker of heaven and earth, the creation that this psalm describes as wearing out.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which image of distress in verses 3–11 comes closest to something you have wanted to tell God?

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What do you notice about the return to shortened days after the prayer for Zion’s restoration?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 102

Who wrote Psalm 102?

Psalm 102 does not name its author. Its heading identifies the prayer with an afflicted person who is overwhelmed and pours out a complaint before YHWH. The references to Zion’s stones, dust, and rebuilding suggest communal devastation, but the psalm does not identify a date or event.

What does the set time for Zion mean in Psalm 102:13?

The speaker declares that the time has come for God to show Zion mercy. The surrounding verses describe rebuilding, answered prayer, and nations honoring YHWH. Zion is linked with Jerusalem in verse 21. The psalm expresses confidence in God’s timing without supplying a calendar date or naming a ruler.

What does Psalm 102 mean when it says the heavens will wear out?

Verses 25–27 compare earth and heavens to clothing that wears out and is changed. God made them, and their permanence is limited; his years have no end. The image establishes the contrast between creation’s change and the Creator’s constancy without explaining the process or timing of that change.

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What the Bible says about loneliness →What the Bible says about grief →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).