Psalm 69

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

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, thou knowest my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from thee.

⁶ Let 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.
⁷ For it is for thy sake that I have borne reproach,
    that shame has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brethren,
    an alien to my mother’s sons.

⁹ For zeal for thy house has consumed me,
    and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I humbled^[a] 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 thee, O Lord.
    At an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me.
With thy faithful help ¹⁴ rescue 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 thy steadfast love is good;
    according to thy abundant mercy, turn to me.
¹⁷ Hide not thy face from thy servant;
    for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.
¹⁸ Draw near to me, redeem me,
    set me free because of my enemies!

¹⁹ Thou knowest my reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to thee.
²⁰ Insults 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 vinegar to drink.

²² Let their own table before them become a snare;
    let their sacrificial feasts^[b] be a trap.
²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see;
    and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴ Pour out thy indignation upon them,
    and let thy burning anger overtake them.
²⁵ May their camp be a desolation,
    let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten,
    and him^[c] whom thou hast wounded, they afflict still more.^[d]
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from thee.
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 thy 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 Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
³³ For the Lord hears the needy,
    and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves therein.
³⁵ For God will save Zion
    and rebuild the cities of Judah;
and his servants shall dwell^[e] there and possess it;
³⁶     the children of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.