The Waters Have Come Up to My Neck
For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David.
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have risen to my neck!
2 I am sinking in deep mire, where there is no foothold.
I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary from my crying.
My throat is dry.
My eyes fail looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to destroy me–my enemies for no reason–are powerful.
They make me repay what I did not take.
5 God, you know my foolishness.
My sins are not hidden from you.
6 Do not let those who wait for you be shamed because of me, Lord God of Hosts.
Do not let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
Shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s children.
9 For the zeal of your house consumes me.
The insults of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and I fasted,
that was to my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a joke to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, Lord, for the time of your favor.
God, in the abundance of your loving kindness,
answer me in the truth of your salvation.
14 Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me and from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the flood waters overwhelm me,
nor let the deep swallow me up.
Do not let the pit shut its mouth on me.
16 Answer me, Lord, for your loving kindness is good.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress.
Answer me speedily!
18 Draw near to me and redeem me.
Ransom me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.
My adversaries are all before you.
20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.
I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me poison for my food.
In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table be a snare, a stumbling block,
and a trap for their allies.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot see.
Always keep their backs bent.
24 Pour out your indignation on them.
Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate.
Let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have wounded.
They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime.
Do not let them come into your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life,
and not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am in pain and distress.
Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song
and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 It will please the Lord better than an ox
or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32 The humble have seen it and are glad.
You who seek after God, let your heart live.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them!
35 For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah.
They shall settle there and own it.
36 The children also of his servants shall inherit it.
Those who love his name shall dwell there.