Psalms 69:1-32

1 Save me, O God! The water is already up to my neck!

2 I am sinking in deep mud. There is nothing to stand on. I am in deep water. A flood is sweeping me away.

3 I am exhausted from crying for help. My throat is hoarse. My eyes are strained [from] looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me for no reason outnumber the hairs on my head. Those who want to destroy me are mighty. They have no reason to be my enemies. I am forced to pay back what I did not steal.

5 O God, you know my stupidity, and the things of which I am guilty are not hidden from you.

6 Do not let those who wait with hope for you be put to shame because of me, O Almighty LORD of Armies. Do not let those who come to you for help be humiliated because of me, O God of Israel.

7 Indeed, for your sake I have endured insults. Humiliation has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my [own] brothers, a foreigner to my mother's sons.

9 Indeed, devotion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

10 I cried and fasted, but I was insulted for it.

11 I dressed myself in sackcloth, but I became the object of ridicule.

12 Those who sit at the gate gossip about me, and drunkards make up songs about me.

13 May my prayer come to you at an acceptable time, O LORD. O God, out of the greatness of your mercy, answer me with the truth of your salvation.

14 Rescue me from the mud. Do not let me sink [into it]. I want to be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep water.

15 Do not let floodwaters sweep me away. Do not let the ocean swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O LORD, because your mercy is good. Out of your unlimited compassion, turn to me.

17 I am in trouble, so do not hide your face from me. Answer me quickly!

18 Come close, and defend my soul. Set me free because of my enemies.

19 You know that I have been insulted, put to shame, and humiliated. All my opponents are in front of you.

20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none. I looked for people to comfort me, but I found no one.

21 They poisoned my food, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let the table set for them become a trap and a snare for their friends.

23 Let their vision become clouded so that they cannot see. Let their thighs continually shake.

24 Pour your rage on them. Let your burning anger catch up with them.

25 Let their camp be deserted and their tents empty.

26 They persecute the one you have struck, and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.

27 Charge them with one crime after another. Do not let them be found innocent.

28 Let their [names] be erased from the Book of Life. Do not let them be listed with righteous people.

29 I am suffering and in pain. Let your saving power protect me, O God.

30 I want to praise the name of God with a song. I want to praise its greatness with a song of thanksgiving.

31 This will please the LORD more than [sacrificing] an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32 Oppressed people will see [this] and rejoice. May the hearts of those who look to God for help be refreshed.

Psalms 69:1-32 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, [A Psalm] of David. Of the word "shoshannim," See Gill on "Ps 45:1," title. The Targum renders it, "concerning the removal of the sanhedrim;" which was about the time of Christ's death. The Talmudists {t} say, that forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, they removed from the paved chamber, &c. But it can hardly be thought that David prophesied of this affair; nor of the captivity of the people of Israel, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Arama, and R. Obadiah interpret it: and so Jarchi takes the word "shoshannim" to signify lilies, and applies it to the Israelites, who are as a lily among thorns. But not a body of people, but a single person, is spoken of, and in sorrowful and suffering circumstances; and, if the Jews were not blind, they might see that they are the enemies of the person designed, and the evil men from whom he suffered so much. And indeed what is said of him cannot be said of them, nor of any other person whatever but the Messiah: and that the psalm belongs to Christ, and to the times of the Gospel, is abundantly evident from the citations out of it in the New Testament; as

Psalm 69:4 in John 15:25;
Psalm 69:9 in John 2:17;
Psalm 69:21 in Matthew 27:34;
Psalm 69:22 in Romans 11:9;
Psalm 69:25 in Acts 1:16.

The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is, "'a psalm' of David, according to the letter, when Shemuah (Sheba), the son of Bichri, blew a trumpet, and the people ceased from following after him (David); but the prophecy is said concerning those things which the Messiah suffered, and concerning the rejection of the Jews." And Aben Ezra interprets Psalm 69:36 of the days of David, or of the days of the Messiah.

{t} T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 8. 2. & Roshhashanah, fol. 31. 1, 2.