Psalms 69
1 For the end, [a Psalm] of David, for alternate [strains]. Save me, O God; for the waters have come in to my soul.
For the leader. On shoshannim. Of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are threatening my life.
2 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.
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 am weary [of] crying, my throat has become hoarse; mine eyes have failed by my waiting on my God.
I am weary of crying, my throat is parched, my eyes are wasted with waiting for God.
4 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.
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 transgressions are not hidden from you.
O God, you know my folly, my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 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.
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 I have suffered reproach for your sake; shame has covered my face.
It’s in your cause that I have borne taunts, and my face has been covered with shame;
8 I became strange to my brethren, and a stranger to my mother's children.
I became to my kindred a foreigner, to my mother’s sons a stranger.
9 For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are 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 bowed down my soul with fasting, and that was made my reproach.
When I chastened myself with fasting, they took occasion to taunt me.
11 And I put on sackcloth for my covering; and I became a proverb to them.
When I put on a garment of sackcloth, they made me the theme of a taunt-song.
12 They that sit in the gate talked against me, and they that drank wine sang against me.
Those who sit in the gate make sport of me in the music of drunken songs.
13 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.
But I pray to you, Lord, for a time of favor. In your great love answer me; with your loyal help, save me
14 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.
from sinking down in the mire. Lift me out of the deep deep waters,
15 Let not the waterflood drown me, nor let the deep swallow me up; neither let the well shut its mouth upon 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 good: according to the multitude of your compassions look upon me.
Answer me, Lord, in your gracious kindness, turn to me in your great compassion.
17 And turn not away your face from your servant; for I am afflicted: hear me speedily.
Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in trouble; O answer me speedily.
18 Draw near to my soul and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
Draw near to me, redeem me; because of my enemies, ransom me.
19 For you know my reproach, and my shame, and my confusion; all that afflict me are before you.
You know how I am insulted; in your sight are all my foes.
20 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.
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 They gave [me] also gall for my food, and made me drink vinegar for my thirst.
Poison they gave me for food, and to slake my thirst they gave vinegar.
22 Let their table before them be for a snare, and for a recompense, and for a stumbling block.
May their table, outspread, be a trap to them, and their peace-offerings be a snare.
23 Let their eyes be darkened that they should not see; and bow down their back continually.
May their eyes be darkened and blind, make them shake without ceasing.
24 Pour out your wrath upon them, and let the fury of your anger take hold on them.
Pour your indignation upon them, let your burning wrath overtake them.
25 Let their habitation be made desolate; and let there be no inhabitant in their tents:
May their camp be a desolation, in their tents be there none to live.
26 Because they persecuted him whom you have 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 Add iniquity to their iniquity; and let them not come into your righteousness.
Charge them with sin upon sin, may they not be acquitted by you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous.
From the book of life be they blotted, may their names not be written with the righteous.
29 I am poor and sorrowful; but the salvation of your countenance has helped me.
Lift me, O God, by your help above my pain and misery.
30 I will praise the name of my God with a song, I will magnify him with praise;
Then will I praise God in song and magnify him with thanksgiving,
31 and [this] shall please God more than a young calf having 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 the Lord diligently, and you shall live.
The oppressed shall rejoice at the sight. You who seek after God, let your heart revive.
33 For the Lord hears the poor, and does not set at nothing his fettered ones.
For the Lord listens to the poor, he does not despise his prisoners.
34 Let the heavens and the earth raise him, the sea, and all things moving in them.
Let the heavens and the earth sing his praises, the seas, and all creatures that move in them.
35 For God will save Sion, and the cities of Judea shall be built; and [men] shall dwell there, and inherit it.
For God will bring help to Zion, and build up the cities of Judah, his people shall live there in possession.
36 And the seed of his servants shall possess it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
His servants’ children shall have it for heritage, and those who love him shall live therein.
