Psalm 69
The Message
69 God, God, save me!
I’m in over my head,
2 Quicksand under me, swamp water over me;
I’m going down for the third time.
3 I’m hoarse from calling for help,
Bleary-eyed from searching the sky for God.
4 I’ve got more enemies than hairs on my head;
Liars and cheats are out to knife me in the back.
What I never stole
Must I now give back?
5 God, you know every sin I’ve committed;
My life’s a wide-open book before you.
6 Don’t let those who look to you in hope
Be discouraged by what happens to me,
Dear Lord! God of the armies!
Don’t let those out looking for you
Come to a dead end by following me—
Please, dear God of Israel!
7 Because of you I look like an idiot,
I walk around ashamed to show my face.
8 My brothers shun me like a bum off the street;
My family treats me like an unwanted guest.
9 I love you more than I can say.
Because I’m madly in love with you,
They blame me for everything they dislike about you.
10 When I poured myself out in prayer and fasting,
All it got me was more contempt.
11 When I put on a sad face,
They treated me like a clown.
12 Now drunks and gluttons
Make up drinking songs about me.
13 And me? I pray.
God, it’s time for a break!
God, answer in love!
Answer with your sure salvation!
14 Rescue me from the swamp,
Don’t let me go under for good,
Pull me out of the clutch of the enemy;
This whirlpool is sucking me down.
15 Don’t let the swamp be my grave, the Black Hole
Swallow me, its jaws clenched around me.
16 Now answer me, God, because you love me;
Let me see your great mercy full-face.
17 Don’t look the other way; your servant can’t take it.
I’m in trouble. Answer right now!
18 Come close, God; get me out of here.
Rescue me from this deathtrap.
19 You know how they kick me around—
Pin on me the donkey’s ears, the dunce’s cap.
20 I’m broken by their taunts,
Flat on my face, reduced to a nothing.
I looked in vain for one friendly face. Not one.
I couldn’t find one shoulder to cry on.
21 They put poison in my soup,
Vinegar in my drink.
22 Let their supper be bait in a trap that snaps shut;
May their best friends be trappers who’ll skin them alive.
23 Make them become blind as bats,
Give them the shakes from morning to night.
24 Let them know what you think of them,
Blast them with your red-hot anger.
25 Burn down their houses,
Leave them desolate with nobody at home.
26 They gossiped about the one you disciplined,
Made up stories about anyone wounded by God.
27 Pile on the guilt,
Don’t let them off the hook.
28 Strike their names from the list of the living;
No rock-carved honor for them among the righteous.
29 I’m hurt and in pain;
Give me space for healing, and mountain air.
30 Let me shout God’s name with a praising song,
Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks.
31 For God, this is better than oxen on the altar,
Far better than blue-ribbon bulls.
32 The poor in spirit see and are glad—
Oh, you God-seekers, take heart!
33 For God listens to the poor,
He doesn’t walk out on the wretched.
34 You heavens, praise him; praise him, earth;
Also ocean and all things that swim in it.
35 For God is out to help Zion,
Rebuilding the wrecked towns of Judah.
Guess who will live there—
The proud owners of the land?
36 No, the children of his servants will get it,
The lovers of his name will live in it.
Psalm 69
English Standard Version
Save Me, O God
To the choirmaster: according to (A)Lilies. Of David.
69 Save me, O God!
For (B)the waters have come up to my neck.[a]
2 I sink in deep (C)mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood (D)sweeps over me.
3 (E)I am weary with my crying out;
(F)my throat is parched.
(G)My eyes grow dim
with (H)waiting for my God.
4 (I)More in number than the hairs of my head
are (J)those who hate me (K)without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
(L)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 (M)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 (N)for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become (O)a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother's sons.
9 For (P)zeal for your house has consumed me,
and (Q)the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled[b] my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made (R)sackcloth my clothing,
I became (S)a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who (T)sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make (U)songs about me.
13 But as for me, my (V)prayer is to you, O Lord.
At (W)an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in (X)the mire;
(Y)let me be delivered from my enemies
and from (Z)the deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or (AA)the pit close (AB)its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your (AC)steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant (AD)mercy, (AE)turn to me.
17 (AF)Hide not your face from your servant,
(AG)for I am in distress; (AH)make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
19 You know my (AI)reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 (AJ)Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in (AK)despair.
I (AL)looked for (AM)pity, but there was none,
and for (AN)comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me (AO)poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me (AP)sour wine to drink.
22 (AQ)Let their own (AR)table before them become a snare;
(AS)and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.[c]
23 (AT)Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
(AU)and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 (AV)May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they (AW)persecute him whom (AX)you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of (AY)those you have wounded.
27 (AZ)Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.[d]
28 Let them be (BA)blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be (BB)enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, (BC)set me on high!
30 I will (BD)praise the name of God with a song;
I will (BE)magnify him with (BF)thanksgiving.
31 This will (BG)please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull (BH)with horns and hoofs.
32 When (BI)the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, (BJ)let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and (BK)does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34 Let (BL)heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For (BM)God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 (BN)the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Footnotes
- Psalm 69:1 Or waters threaten my life
- Psalm 69:10 Hebrew lacks and humbled
- Psalm 69:22 Hebrew; a slight revocalization yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) a snare, and retribution and a trap
- Psalm 69:27 Hebrew may they not come into your righteousness
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
