Psalm 69

¹Save me, O God,

for the waters have come up to my neck.

²I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

³I am weary with my crying;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

⁴More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause;

many are those who would destroy me,

my enemies who accuse me falsely.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

⁵O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

⁶Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,

O Lord God of hosts;

do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me,

O God of Israel.

⁷It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

that shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my kindred,

an alien to my mother’s children.

⁹It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;

the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I humbled my soul with fasting,

they insulted me for doing so.

¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

¹²I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,

and the drunkards make songs about me.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

With your faithful help ¹⁴rescue me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the Pit close its mouth over me.

¹⁶Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

¹⁷Do not hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.

¹⁸Draw near to me, redeem me,

set me free because of my enemies.

¹⁹You know the insults I receive,

and my shame and dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

²⁰Insults have broken my heart,

so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none;

and for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²Let their table be a trap for them,

a snare for their allies.

²³Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,

and make their loins tremble continually.

²⁴Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

²⁵May their camp be a desolation;

let no one live in their tents.

²⁶For they persecute those whom you have struck down,

and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.

²⁷Add guilt to their guilt;

may they have no acquittal from you.

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹But I am lowly and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, protect me.

³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

³¹This will please the Lord more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

³²Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

³³For the Lord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵For God will save Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah;

and his servants shall live there and possess it;

³⁶the children of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall live in it.