Psalms 69

1 For the music director. To the tune “Lilies.” A psalm of David. God, please save me, because the water is up to my neck!

For the end, [a Psalm] of David, for alternate [strains]. Save me, O God; for the waters have come in to my soul.

2 I'm sinking deeper into the mud—there's no solid ground for me to stand. I find myself in deep water; floods wash over me.

I am stuck fast in deep mire, and there is no standing: I am come in to the depths of the sea, and a storm has overwhelmed me.

3 I'm so tired of screaming out for help my throat is totally raw. My eyes are worn out looking for my God to help me.

I am weary [of] crying, my throat has become hoarse; mine eyes have failed by my waiting on my God.

4 Those who hate me for no reason are more than the number of hairs on my head. Many enemies try to destroy me by telling lies. How can I give back what I didn't steal?

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head: my enemies that persecute me unrighteously are strengthened: then I restored that which I took not away.

5 God, you know how foolish I am! My sins are not hidden from you.

O God, you know my foolishness; and my transgressions are not hidden from you.

6 Don't let those who trust you be ashamed because of me, Lord God Almighty. Don't let those who follow you be disgraced because of me, God of Israel.

Let not them that wait on you, O Lord of hosts, be ashamed on my account: let not them that seek you, be ashamed on my account, O God of Israel.

7 For your sake I put up with the insults; my face shows my embarrassment.

For I have suffered reproach for your sake; shame has covered my face.

8 I have become a foreigner to my brother Israelites; a stranger to my very own brothers.

I became strange to my brethren, and a stranger to my mother's children.

9 My devotion for your house is burning me up inside; the insults of those who insulted you have fallen on me.

For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me.

10 I wept and I fasted, but they mocked me;

And I bowed down my soul with fasting, and that was made my reproach.

11 I mourned in sackcloth, but they laughed at me.

And I put on sackcloth for my covering; and I became a proverb to them.

12 People sitting by the town gate gossip about me. I'm the subject of rude songs sung by drunks.

They that sit in the gate talked against me, and they that drank wine sang against me.

13 But my prayer is to you, Lord, believing this is a good time to respond to me. God, in your wonderful trustworthy love, answer me with your sure salvation.

But I [will cry] to you, O Lord, in my prayer; O God, it is a propitious time: in the multitude of your mercy hear me, in the truth of your salvation.

14 Please rescue me from the mud—don't let me sink! Save me from those who hate me and from drowning in the deep waters!

Save me from the mire, that I stick not [in it]: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and from the deep waters.

15 Don't let the flood waters wash over me. Don't let the deep waters pull me down. Don't let the grave close over me.

Let not the waterflood drown me, nor let the deep swallow me up; neither let the well shut its mouth upon me.

16 Please answer my prayers, Lord, for you are good and love me with your trustworthy love; because of your kindness, please help me.

Hear me, O Lord; for your mercy is good: according to the multitude of your compassions look upon me.

17 Don't turn away from me, your servant. Please answer me quickly because I'm in trouble.

And turn not away your face from your servant; for I am afflicted: hear me speedily.

18 Come here and rescue me; set me free from my enemies.

Draw near to my soul and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

19 You—you know my shame, my disgrace, my humiliation. You see everything my enemies are doing.

For you know my reproach, and my shame, and my confusion; all that afflict me are before you.

20 Insults have broken my heart—I am so sick there is no cure. I looked for some sympathy, but there was no one! Nobody showed me any compassion.

My soul has waited for reproach and misery; and I waited for one to grieve with me, but there was none; and for one to comfort me, but I found none.

21 Instead they gave me bitter herbs to eat and vinegar to drink.

They gave [me] also gall for my food, and made me drink vinegar for my thirst.

22 May the table set before them become a trap for them, a net that catches them, bringing punishment.

Let their table before them be for a snare, and for a recompense, and for a stumbling block.

23 May their eyes become blind so they cannot see, and may their backs always be bent low in dejection.

Let their eyes be darkened that they should not see; and bow down their back continually.

24 Pour out your judgment on them; chase them down in your fierce anger.

Pour out your wrath upon them, and let the fury of your anger take hold on them.

25 Let the places where they live be deserted. Let their homes be abandoned.

Let their habitation be made desolate; and let there be no inhabitant in their tents:

26 For they persecute those you have punished, and make it even more painful for those you have disciplined.

Because they persecuted him whom you have struck; and they have added to the grief of my wounds.

27 Punish them for the evil they have done. Don't acquit them.

Add iniquity to their iniquity; and let them not come into your righteousness.

28 Blot out their names from the Book of Life. Don't let them be listed with those who do right.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous.

29 But I am suffering and in physical pain. God, please save me and keep me safe.

I am poor and sorrowful; but the salvation of your countenance has helped me.

30 I will praise God's character in song; I will say how incredible he is and how thankful I am.

I will praise the name of my God with a song, I will magnify him with praise;

31 The Lord is happier with this than with offering animals as sacrifices: cattle, or bulls with horns and hooves.

and [this] shall please God more than a young calf having horns and hoofs.

32 The humble will see this and be happy. May God encourage everyone who comes to him.

Let the poor see and rejoice; seek the Lord diligently, and you shall live.

33 God hears the poor, and he does not ignore his people who are in prison.

For the Lord hears the poor, and does not set at nothing his fettered ones.

34 Praise him heaven and earth, the seas and everything that lives in them!

Let the heavens and the earth raise him, the sea, and all things moving in them.

35 For God will save Zion, and rebuild the cities of Judah. They will live there and own the land.

For God will save Sion, and the cities of Judea shall be built; and [men] shall dwell there, and inherit it.

36 The descendants of those who follow him will inherit the land, and those who love him will live there.

And the seed of his servants shall possess it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein.