Psalms 69

1 Save me, God, because waters have come up to my soul.

2 I am stuck in the mud of the depths, and there is no footing. I entered the depths of the sea, and a storm submerged me.

3 I grew weary from crying out; my throat became hoarse. My eyes failed while I waited for my God.

4 Those who hate me for nothing became more numerous than the hairs on my head. My enemies who persecute me unjustly grew strong. Then I repaid what I had not taken.

5 God, you know my foolishness, and my wrongdoings were not hidden from you.

6 Lord, Lord of armies, may those who wait for you not be ashamed because of me. God of Israel, may those who seek you not be disgraced because of me.

7 Because of you I endured reproach; shame covered my face.

8 I became estranged from my brothers, a foreigner to my mother’s sons.

9 Zeal for your house consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

10 I bowed down my soul with fasting, and it became a reproach to me.

11 I made sackcloth my clothing, and I became a proverb to them.

12 Those sitting at the gate gossiped against me, and those drinking wine made music about me.

13 But my prayer is to you, Lord. God, this is an acceptable time. In the abundance of your mercy, hear me in the truth of your rescue.

14 Save me from the mud so I do not become stuck. May I be rescued from those who hate me and from the depth of the waters.

15 May a storm of water not submerge me; may the deep not swallow me; may the pit not close its mouth over me.

16 Hear me, Lord, because your mercy is kind. In the abundance of your compassion, look upon me.

17 Do not turn your face away from your servant, because I am afflicted. Hear me quickly.

18 Pay attention to my soul and ransom it; rescue me because of my enemies.

19 You know my reproach, shame, and disgrace. Everyone who afflicts me is before you.

20 My soul expected reproach and misery. I waited for someone to share my grief, but there was no one, and for people to comfort me, but I found none.

21 They gave me gall for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 May their table before them become a trap, a repayment, and a stumbling block.

23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and bend their backs continually.

24 Pour your wrath upon them, and may the fury of your anger overtake them.

25 May their settlement become desolate; may no one live in their tents.

26 They persecuted the one you struck and added to the pain of those you wounded.

27 Add lawlessness to their lawlessness, and may they not enter your righteousness.

28 May they be erased from the book of the living and not be written with the righteous.

29 I am poor and in pain, but the rescue of your presence, God, supported me.

30 I will praise God’s name with a song and magnify him with praise.

31 This will please God more than a young calf growing horns and hooves.

32 May the poor see and rejoice. Seek God, and your souls will live,

33 because the Lord heard the needy and did not despise his prisoners.

34 May the heavens and the earth praise him, the sea and everything moving in them.

35 God will save Zion, and the cities of Judea will be built. People will live there and inherit it.

36 The offspring of his servants will possess it, and those who love his name will live there.