69:1
[For the choirmaster Tune: 'Lilies . . .' Of David] Save me, God, for the waters have closed in on my very being.
69:2
I am sinking in the deepest swamp and there is no firm ground. I have stepped into deep water and the waves are washing over me.
69:3
I am exhausted with calling out, my throat is hoarse, my eyes are worn out with searching for my God.
69:4
More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without reason. Those who seek to get rid of me are powerful, my treacherous enemies. (Must I give back what I have never stolen?)
69:5
God, you know how foolish I am, my offences are not hidden from you.
69:6
Those who hope in you must not be made fools of, Yahweh Sabaoth, because of me! Those who seek you must not be disgraced, God of Israel, because of me!
69:7
It is for you I bear insults, my face is covered with shame,
69:8
I am estranged from my brothers, alienated from my own mother's sons;
69:9
for I am eaten up with zeal for your house, and insults directed against you fall on me.
69:10
I mortify myself with fasting, and find myself insulted for it,
69:11
I dress myself in sackcloth and become their laughing-stock,
69:12
the gossip of people sitting at the gate, and the theme of drunkards' songs.
69:13
And so, I pray to you, Yahweh, at the time of your favour; in your faithful love answer me, in the constancy of your saving power.
69:14
Rescue me from the mire before I sink in; so I shall be saved from those who hate me, from the watery depths.
69:15
Let not the waves wash over me, nor the deep swallow me up, nor the pit close its mouth on me.
69:16
Answer me, Yahweh, for your faithful love is generous; in your tenderness turn towards me;
69:17
do not turn away from your servant, be quick to answer me, for I am in trouble.
69:18
Come to my side, redeem me, ransom me because of my enemies.
69:19
You know well the insults, the shame and disgrace I endure. Every one of my oppressors is known to you.
69:20
Insult has broken my heart past cure. I hoped for sympathy, but in vain, for consolers -- not one to be found.
69:21
To eat they gave me poison, to drink, vinegar when I was thirsty.
69:22
May their own table prove a trap for them, and their abundance a snare;
69:23
may their eyes grow so dim that they cannot see, all their muscles lose their strength.
69:24
Vent your fury on them, let your burning anger overtake them.
69:25
Reduce their encampment to ruin, and leave their tents untenanted,
69:26
for hounding someone you had already stricken, for redoubling the pain of one you had wounded.
69:27
Charge them with crime after crime, exclude them from your saving justice,
69:28
erase them from the book of life, do not enrol them among the upright.
69:29
For myself, wounded wretch that I am, by your saving power raise me up!
69:30
I will praise God's name in song, I will extol him by thanksgiving,
69:31
for this will please Yahweh more than an ox, than a bullock horned and hoofed.
69:32
The humble have seen and are glad. Let your courage revive, you who seek God.
69:33
For God listens to the poor, he has never scorned his captive people.
69:34
Let heaven and earth and seas, and all that stirs in them, acclaim him!
69:35
For God will save Zion, and rebuild the cities of Judah, and people will live there on their own land;
69:36
the descendants of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.
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