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; 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 Yahweh GOD of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonour through me, O God of Israel.
69 7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that shame has covered my face.
69 8 I have become a stranger to my brethren,
an alien to my mother's sons.
69 9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
69 10 When I 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 Yahweh.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me.
With your faithful help 69 14 rescue 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 Yahweh, 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 me, redeem me,
set me free because of my enemies!
69 19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonour;
my foes are all known to you.
69 20 Insults 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 vinegar to drink.
69 22 Let their own table before them become a snare;
let their sacrificial feasts be 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 smitten,
and him whom you have wounded, they afflict still more.
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 Yahweh more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
69 32 Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
69 33 For Yahweh hears the needy,
and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
69 34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves therein.
69 35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah;
and his servants shall dwell there and possess it;
69 36 the children of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.