1 My righteous Judge, my gracious God,
Hear when I spread my hands abroad,
And cry for succour from thy throne,
O make thy truth and mercy known.
2 Let judgment not against me pass:
Behold thy servant pleads thy grace;
Should justice call us to thy bar,
No man alive is guiltless there.
3 Look down in pity, Lord, and see
The mighty woes that burthen me;
Down to the dust my life is brought,
Like one long bury'd and forgot.
4 I dwell in darkness and unseen,
My heart is desolate within:
My thoughts in musing silence trace
The antient wonders of thy grace.
5 Thence I derive a glimpse of hope
To bear my sinking spirits up;
I stretch my hands to God again,
And thirst like parched lands for rain.
6 For thee I thirst, I pray, I mourn;
When will thy smiling face return?
Shall all my joys on earth remove,
And God forever hide his love?
7 My God, thy long delay to save,
Will sink thy prisoner to the grave;
My heart grows faint, and dim mine eye;
Make haste to help before I die.
8 The night is witness to my tears,
Distressing pains, distressing fears;
Oh might I hear thy morning voice,
How would my weary powers rejoice!
9 In thee I trust, to thee I sigh,
And lift my weary soul on high;
For thee sit waiting all the day,
And wear the tiresome hours away.
10 Break off my fetters, Lord, and show
The paths in which my feet should go:
If snares and foes beset the road,
I'll flee to hide me near my God.
11 Teach me to do thy holy will,
And lead me to thy heavenly hill:
Let the good spirit of thy love
Conduct me to thy courts above.
12 Then shall my soul no more complain,
The tempter then shall rage in vain;
And flesh that was my foe before,
Shall never vex my spirit more.