Psalm 69

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;
Sneaks and liars 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.