Psalm 69
- Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
- I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
- I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
- Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.
- You, God, know my folly;
my guilt is not hidden from you.
- Lord, the Lord Almighty,
may those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me;
God of Israel,
may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me.
- For I endure scorn for your sake,
and shame covers my face.
- I am a foreigner to my own family,
a stranger to my own mother’s children;
- for zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
- When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;
- when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.
- Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
- But I pray to you, Lord,
in the time of your favor;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
- Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
- Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
- Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
- Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
- Come near and rescue me;
deliver me because of my foes.
- You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.
- Scorn has broken my heart
and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
- They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
- May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and[b] a trap.
- May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.
- Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
- May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
- For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
- Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
- May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
- But as for me, afflicted and in pain—
may your salvation, God, protect me.
- I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
- This will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
- The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
- The Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
- Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
- for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
- the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
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