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Psalm 69

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecution

To the leader: according to Lilies. Of David.

1

Save me, O God,

for the waters have come up to my neck.

2

I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

3

I am weary with my crying;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

 

4

More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause;

many are those who would destroy me,

my enemies who accuse me falsely.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

5

O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

 

6

Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,

O Lord G od of hosts;

do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me,

O God of Israel.

7

It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

that shame has covered my face.

8

I have become a stranger to my kindred,

an alien to my mother’s children.

 

9

It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;

the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

10

When I humbled my soul with fasting,

they insulted me for doing so.

11

When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12

I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,

and the drunkards make songs about me.

 

13

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O L ord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

With your faithful help 14rescue me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

15

Do not let the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the Pit close its mouth over me.

 

16

Answer me, O L ord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

17

Do not hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.

18

Draw near to me, redeem me,

set me free because of my enemies.

 

19

You know the insults I receive,

and my shame and dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20

Insults have broken my heart,

so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none;

and for comforters, but I found none.

21

They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

 

22

Let their table be a trap for them,

a snare for their allies.

23

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,

and make their loins tremble continually.

24

Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

25

May their camp be a desolation;

let no one live in their tents.

26

For they persecute those whom you have struck down,

and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.

27

Add guilt to their guilt;

may they have no acquittal from you.

28

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

29

But I am lowly and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, protect me.

 

30

I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31

This will please the L ord more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32

Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

33

For the L ord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

 

34

Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

35

For God will save Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah;

and his servants shall live there and possess it;

36

the children of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall live in it.


6 O Jehovah, Lord of Hosts! let not them that wait for thee be ashamed in me. David declares that he is set forth as an example from which all the people of God may derive matter either of hope or despair. Although he was held in detestation and execrated by the great body of the people, there yet remained a few who were ready to bear just and impartial testimony to his innocence; knowing as they did that he was unrighteously afflicted by his persecutors, that he constantly reposed on the grace and goodness of God, and that no temptations could discourage or prevent him from continuing steadfast in the practice of true godliness. But when they observed the distresses and calamities to which he was notwithstanding subjected, the only conclusion to which they were able to arrive was, that all the pains and labor which he had taken in devoutly serving God were entirely thrown away. As all the instances in which God extends his succor to his servants are so many seals, by which he confirms and gives us assurance of his goodness and grace towards us, the faithful must have been exceedingly discouraged had David been forsaken in the extremity of his distress. The danger of their being thus discouraged he now lays before God; not that God has ever need of being put in mind of any thing, but because he allows us to deal familiarly with him at the throne of grace. The word wait is properly to be understood of hope, and the expression to seek God, of prayer. The connecting of the two together teaches us the profitable lesson, that faith is not all inactive principle, since it is the means of stirring us up to seek God.


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