Psalm 69:1–21

¹Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

²I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

³I am weary with my crying;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

⁴More 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?

⁵O God, thou knowest my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from thee.

⁶Let not those who hope in thee be put to shame through me,

O Lord GOD of hosts;

let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

⁷For it is for thy sake that I have borne reproach,

that shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brethren,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

⁹For zeal for thy house has consumed me,

and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I humbled my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

¹²I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,

and the drunkards make songs about me.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me.

With thy faithful help ¹⁴rescue me from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

¹⁵Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

¹⁶Answer me, O Lord, for thy steadfast love is good;

according to thy abundant mercy, turn to me.

¹⁷Hide not thy face from thy servant;

for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.

¹⁸Draw near to me, redeem me,

set me free because of my enemies!

¹⁹Thou knowest my reproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to thee.

²⁰Insults 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.

²¹They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.