An Urgent Plea for Help in Trouble

¹Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

²I sink in deep mire,[#Ps. 40:2]

Where there is no standing;

I have come into deep waters,

Where the floods overflow me.

³I am weary with my crying;[#Ps. 6:6]

My throat is dry;

My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

⁴Those who hate me without a cause[#Ps. 35:19; John 15:25]

Are more than the hairs of my head;

They are mighty who would destroy me,

Being my enemies wrongfully;

Though I have stolen nothing,

I still must restore it.

⁵O God, You know my foolishness;

And my sins are not hidden from You.

⁶Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me;

Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.

⁷Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;

Shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers,[#Is. 53:3; Mark 3:21; Luke 8:19; John 7:3–5]

And an alien to my mother’s children;

⁹Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,[#John 2:17]

And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,

That became my reproach.

¹¹I also made sackcloth my garment;

I became a byword to them.

¹²Those who sit in the gate speak against me,

And I am the song of the drunkards.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to You,

O Lord , in the acceptable time;

O God, in the multitude of Your mercy,

Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.

¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire,

And let me not sink;

Let me be delivered from those who hate me,

And out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Let not the floodwater overflow me,

Nor let the deep swallow me up;

And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.

¹⁶Hear me, O Lord , for Your lovingkindness is good;

Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.

¹⁷And do not hide Your face from Your servant,

For I am in trouble;

Hear me speedily.

¹⁸Draw near to my soul, and redeem it;

Deliver me because of my enemies.

¹⁹You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor;[#Ps. 22:6, 7; Heb. 12:2]

My adversaries are all before You.

²⁰Reproach has broken my heart,

And I am full of heaviness;

I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;

And for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They also gave me gall for my food,

And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²Let their table become a snare before them,[#Rom. 11:9, 10]

And their well-being a trap.

²³Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see;[#Is. 6:9, 10]

And make their loins shake continually.

²⁴Pour out Your indignation upon them,[#(Jer. 10:25; 1 Thess. 2:16)]

And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.

²⁵Let their dwelling place be desolate;[#Matt. 23:38; Luke 13:35; Acts 1:20]

Let no one live in their tents.

²⁶For they persecute the ones You have struck,[#(Is. 53:4; 1 Pet. 2:24)]

And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.

²⁷Add iniquity to their iniquity,[#Neh. 4:5; (Rom. 1:28)]

And let them not come into Your righteousness.

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,[#(Ex. 32:32); Phil. 4:3; (Rev. 3:5; 13:8)]

And not be written with the righteous.

²⁹But I am poor and sorrowful;

Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.

³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song,[#(Ps. 28:7)]

And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

³¹This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull,[#Ps. 50:13, 14, 23; 51:16]

Which has horns and hooves.

³²The humble shall see this and be glad;[#Ps. 34:2]

And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.

³³For the Lord hears the poor,

And does not despise His prisoners.

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise Him,[#Ps. 96:11; Is. 44:23; 49:13]

The seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵For God will save Zion[#Ps. 51:18; Is. 44:26]

And build the cities of Judah,

That they may dwell there and possess it.

³⁶Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it,[#Ps. 102:28]

And those who love His name shall dwell in it.