The Cry of Despair (Psalm 69)

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Psalm 69 (ESV)

Save Me, O God

69 To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.

¹  Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

²  I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

³  I am weary with my crying out;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

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?

⁵  O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

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.

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

that dishonor has covered my face.

⁸  I have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

⁹  For zeal for your house has consumed me,

and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

¹⁰  When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

¹¹  When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

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

and the drunkards make songs about me.

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.

¹⁴  Deliver me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

¹⁵  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

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

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

¹⁷  Hide not your face from your servant;

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

¹⁸  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

¹⁹  You know my reproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

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.

²¹  They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

²²  Let their own table before them become a snare;

and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

²³  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

and make their loins tremble continually.

²⁴  Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

²⁵  May their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

²⁶  For they persecute him whom you have struck down,

and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

²⁷  Add to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.

²⁸  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹  But I am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

³⁰  I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

³¹  This will please the Lord more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

³²  When the humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

³³  For the Lord hears the needy

and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

³⁴  Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵  For God will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

³⁶  the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

• Psalm 69 and You (what to do with your despair)

• Psalm 69 and Them (what NOT to do with their despair)

• Psalm 69 and the New Testament (how the Holy Spirit applies this difficult Psalm)

• Psalm 69 and Jesus (the Man of Sorrows is acquainted with your suffering)