Psalms 69
1 Unto the end. For those who will be changed: of David. Save me, O God, for the waters have entered, even to my soul.
For the leader. On shoshannim. Of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are threatening my life.
2 I have become stuck in a deep quagmire, and there is no firm footing. I have arrived at the height of the sea, and a tempest has overwhelmed me.
I am sunk in depths of mire, where ground there is none. I am come into deep deep waters, the flood overwhelms me.
3 I have endured hardships, while crying out. My jaws have become hoarse; my eyes have failed. Meanwhile, I hope in my God.
I am weary of crying, my throat is parched, my eyes are wasted with waiting for God.
4 Those who hate me without cause have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head. My enemies, who persecuted me unjustly, have been strengthened. Then I was required to pay for what I did not take.
More than the hairs of my head are those who wantonly hate me. More than my bones in number are those who are falsely my foes. That which I never robbed, how am I then to restore?
5 O God, you know my foolishness, and my offenses have not been hidden from you.
O God, you know my folly, my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 Let those who wait for you, O Lord, the Lord of hosts, not be shamed in me. Let those who seek you, O God of Israel, not be confounded over me.
Through me let not any be shamed, who wait for you, Lord God of hosts. Through me let not those be confounded who seek you, O God of Israel.
7 For because of you, I have endured reproach; confusion has covered my face.
It’s in your cause that I have borne taunts, and my face has been covered with shame;
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers and a sojourner to the sons of my mother.
I became to my kindred a foreigner, to my mother’s sons a stranger.
9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.
It was zeal for your house that consumed me, and the insults they hurled at you fell upon me.
10 And I covered my soul with fasting, and it has become a reproach to me.
When I chastened myself with fasting, they took occasion to taunt me.
11 And I put on a haircloth as my garment, and I became a parable to them.
When I put on a garment of sackcloth, they made me the theme of a taunt-song.
12 Those who sat at the gate spoke against me, and those who drank wine made me their song.
Those who sit in the gate make sport of me in the music of drunken songs.
13 But as for me, truly, my prayer is to you, O Lord. This time has pleased you well, O God. In the multitude of your mercy, in the truth of your salvation, hear me.
But I pray to you, Lord, for a time of favour. In your great love answer me; with your loyal help, save me
14 Rescue me from the quagmire, so that I may not become trapped. Free me from those who hate me and from deep waters.
from sinking down in the mire. Lift me out of the deep deep waters,
15 Do not allow the tempest of water to submerge me, nor the deep to absorb me. And do not allow the well to close in on me.
that the rushing flood may not drown me, that the deep may not swallow me up, nor the pit close her mouth upon me.
16 Hear me, O Lord, for your mercy is kind. Look upon me, according to the fullness of your compassion.
Answer me, Lord, in your gracious kindness, turn to me in your great compassion.
17 And do not turn your face away from your servant, for I am in trouble: heed me quickly.
Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in trouble; O answer me speedily.
18 Attend to my soul, and free it. Rescue me, because of my enemies.
Draw near to me, redeem me; because of my enemies, ransom me.
19 You know my reproach, and my confusion, and my reverence.
You know how I am insulted; in your sight are all my foes.
20 All those who trouble me are in your sight; my heart has anticipated reproach and misery. And I sought for one who might grieve together with me, but there was no one, and for one who might console me, and I found no one.
Insult has broken my heart, past cure are my shame and confusion. For pity I looked – there was none! And for comforters, but I found none.
21 And they gave me gall for my food. And in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
Poison they gave me for food, and to slake my thirst they gave vinegar.
22 Let their table be a snare before them, and a retribution, and a scandal.
May their table, outspread, be a trap to them, and their peace-offerings be a snare.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they may not see, and may their back always be crooked.
May their eyes be darkened and blind, make them shake without ceasing.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and may the fury of your anger take hold of them.
Pour your indignation upon them, let your burning wrath overtake them.
25 May their dwelling place be deserted, and may there be no one who dwells in their tabernacles.
May their camp be a desolation, in their tents be there none to live.
26 For they persecuted whomever you struck. And they have added to the grief of my wounds.
For those whom you struck, they persecute, and those whom you wounded, they pain yet more.
27 Assign an iniquity upon their iniquity, and may they not enter into your justice.
Charge them with sin upon sin, may they not be acquitted by you.
28 Delete them from the Book of the Living, and let them not be written down with the just.
From the book of life be they blotted, may their names not be written with the righteous.
29 I am poor and sorrowful, but your salvation, O God, has taken me up.
Lift me, O God, by your help above my pain and misery.
30 I will praise the name of God with a canticle, and I will magnify him with praise.
Then will I praise God in song and magnify him with thanksgiving,
31 And it will please God more than a new calf producing horns and hoofs.
which shall please the Lord better than ox, or than bullock with horns and hoofs.
32 Let the poor see and rejoice. Seek God, and your soul will live.
The oppressed shall rejoice at the sight. You who seek after God, let your heart revive.
33 For the Lord has heard the poor, and he has not despised his prisoners.
For the Lord listens to the poor, he does not despise his prisoners.
34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him: the sea, and everything that crawls in it.
Let the heavens and the earth sing his praises, the seas, and all creatures that move in them.
35 For God will save Zion, and the cities of Judah will be built up. And they will dwell there, and they will acquire it by inheritance.
For God will bring help to Zion, and build up the cities of Judah, his people shall live there in possession.
36 And the offspring of his servants will possess it; and those who love his name will dwell in it.
His servants’ children shall have it for heritage, and those who love him shall live therein.
