To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
[69:1] Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
[69:2] I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
[69:3] I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
[69:4] More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
[69:5] O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
[69:6] Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
[69:7] For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
[69:8] I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.
[69:9] For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
[69:10] When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
[69:11] When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
[69:12] I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
[69:13] But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
[69:14] Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
[69:15] Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
[69:16] Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
[69:17] Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
[69:18] Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!
[69:19] You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
[69:20] Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
[69:21] They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
[69:22] Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
[69:23] Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
[69:24] Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
[69:25] May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
[69:26] For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
[69:27] Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
[69:28] Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
[69:29] But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
[69:30] I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
[69:31] This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
[69:32] When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
[69:33] For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
[69:34] Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
[69:35] For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;
[69:36] the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.