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Psalms 69

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[1]David complaineth of his affliction: [7], [19]and of the reproach and insults of his enemies: [13]he prayeth for deliverance: [22]he devoteth his enemies to destruction: [30]he engageth to praise God with thanksgiving. [34]The whole creation is called upon to praise God for his goodness to the church.

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.

1. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

2. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

4. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

6. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

7. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

8. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

9. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

10. When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

11. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

12. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

13. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

14. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

16. Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

17. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

18. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

19. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

20. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

21. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

23. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

24. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

25. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

27. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

28. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

29. But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

30. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

32. The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

33. For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

34. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.

35. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

36. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Metrical version

Psalm 69

C.M. Stornoway

Save me, O God, because the floods
do so environ me,
That ev'n unto my very soul
come in the waters be.

I downward in deep mire do sink,
where standing there is none:
I am into deep waters come,
where floods have o'er me gone.

I weary with my crying am,
my throat is also dried;
Mine eyes do fail, while for my God
I waiting do abide.

Those men that do without a cause
bear hatred unto me,
Than are the hairs upon my head
in number more they be:

They that would me destroy, and are
mine en'mies wrongfully,
Are mighty: so what I took not,
to render forced was I.

Lord, thou my folly know'st, my sins
not covered are from thee.
Let none that wait on thee be shamed,
Lord God of hosts, for me.

O Lord, the God of Israel,
let none, who search do make,
And seek thee, be at any time
confounded for my sake.

For I have borne reproach for thee,
my face is hid with shame.
To brethren strange, to mother's sons
an alien I became.

Because the zeal did eat me up,
which to thine house I bear;
And the reproaches cast at thee,
upon me fallen are.

My tears and fasts, t' afflict my soul,
were turned to my shame.
When sackcloth I did wear, to them
a proverb I became.

The men that in the gate do sit
against me evil spake;
They also that vile drunkards were
of me their song did make.

But, in an acceptable time,
my pray'r, LORD, is to thee:
In truth of thy salvation, Lord,
and mercy great, hear me.

Deliver me out of the mire,
from sinking do me keep;
Free me from those that do me hate,
and from the waters deep.

Let not the flood on me prevail,
whose water overflows;
Nor deep me swallow, nor the pit
her mouth upon me close.

Hear me, O LORD, because thy love
and kindness is most good;
Turn unto me, according to
thy mercies' multitude.

Nor from thy servant hide thy face:
I'm troubled, soon attend.
Draw near my soul, and it redeem;
me from my foes defend.

To thee is my reproach well known,
my shame, and my disgrace:
Those that mine adversaries be
are all before thy face.

Reproach hath broke my heart; I'm full
of grief: I looked for one
To pity me, but none I found;
comforters found I none.

They also bitter gall did give
unto me for my meat:
They gave me vinegar to drink,
when as my thirst was great.

Before them let their table prove
a snare; and do thou make
Their welfare and prosperity
a trap themselves to take.

Let thou their eyes so darkened be,
that sight may them forsake;
And let their loins be made by thee
continually to shake.

Thy fury pour thou out on them,
and indignation;
And let thy wrathful anger, Lord,
fast hold take them upon.

All waste and desolate let be
their habitation;
And in their tabernacles all
inhabitants be none.

Because him they do persecute,
whom thou didst smite before;
They talk unto the grief of those
whom thou hast wounded sore.

Add thou iniquity unto
their former wickedness;
And do not let them come at all
into thy righteousness.

Out of the book of life let them
be razed and blotted quite;
Among the just and righteous
let not their names be writ.

But now become exceeding poor
and sorrowful am I:
By thy salvation, O my God,
let me be set on high.

The name of God I with a song
most cheerfully will praise;
And I, in giving thanks to him,
his name shall highly raise.

This to the LORD a sacrifice
more gracious shall prove
Than bullock, ox, or any beast
that hath both horn and hoof.

When this the humble men shall see,
it joy to them shall give:
O all ye that do seek the Lord,
your hearts shall ever live.

For GOD the poor hears, and will not
his prisoners contemn.
Let heav'n, and earth, and seas, him praise,
and all that move in them.

For God will Judah's cities build,
and he will Zion save,
That they may dwell therein, and it
in sure possession have.

And they that are his servants' seed
inherit shall the same;
So shall they have their dwelling there
that love his blessed name.
This psalm is much like the 22nd, representing at once the troubles of David and of David's Lord, and the glories which followed. We have in it, (1.) Bitter complaints of long and sore troubles; of the malice and multitude of enemies; of the unkindness of friends; of general contempt: and these mingled with candid acknowledgments of guilt, and with supplications for God's gracious audience and merciful deliverance, ver. 1-13. (2.) Pleas insisted on, in these supplications, viz. the mercy and truth of God; the psalmist's own great distress; the insolence and cruelty of his enemies; and the unkindness of his friends, ver. 14-21. (3.) Predictions of the ruin of David's, and especially of Christ's Jewish enemies; importing that their sacrifices and their common food should be cursed to them; that they should be plagued with judicial blindness and wrathful disquiet; that they should be rendered public monuments of the vengeance of God, having their church and state quite unhinged, and their land desolated; and, in fine, that their ruin should be increasing, and their recovery almost impossible, ver. 22-28. (4.) Under a deep sense of his poverty and distress, David, and his divine Son, celebrate the high praises of God, and call others to praise him for the deliverances of Israel; but chiefly for the erection of the gospel church, and for the certain, though still future recalling of the Jews into the same, ver. 29-36.


While I sing, let me behold my Redeemer, charged in law with my sins, and bearing the punishment thereof. Let me learn with patience to run the race of holy obedience and of necessary trials set before me, looking to Jesus as my pattern, and as the author and finisher of my faith. While I behold the tremendous severity of God's judgments against his ancient people, for rejecting and murdering his Son, let me not be high -minded, but fear. Let me behold the grace of our Lord Jesus, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor; that we through his poverty might be made rich. And let me be a living and lively member of that church which is founded in his blood, and blessed in him with all spiritual blessings.