To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Psalm of David.

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.

469.4: Ps 35.19; Jn 15.25.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?

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 dishonour 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.

969.9: Jn 2.17; Rom 15.3.For zeal for thy house has consumed me,

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

10When I humbled69.10 Gk Syr: Heb I wept with fasting my soul or I made my soul mourn with fasting 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 dishonour;

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.

2169.21: Mt 27.34, 48; Mk 15.36; Lk 23.36; Jn 19.29.They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

2269.22-23: Rom 11.9-10.Let their own table before them become a snare;

let their sacrificial feasts69.22 Tg: Heb for security be a trap.

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

and make their loins tremble continually.

2469.24: Rev 16.1.Pour out thy indignation upon them,

and let thy burning anger overtake them.

2569.25: Acts 1.20.May their camp be a desolation,

let no one dwell in their tents.

26For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten,

and him69.26 One Ms Tg Compare Syr: Heb those whom thou hast wounded, they afflict still more.69.26 Gk Syr: Heb recount the pain of

27Add to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from thee.

2869.28: Rev 3.5; 13.8; 17.8; 20.12, 15; 21.27.Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

29But I am afflicted and in pain;

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

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

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31This will please the LORD more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

33For the LORD hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

34Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves therein.

35For God will save Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah;

and his servants shall dwell69.35 Syr: Heb and they shall dwell there and possess it;

36the children of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.