69:1  SAVE ME, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck [they threaten my life].

69:2  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overwhelm me.

69:3  I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; my eyes fail with waiting [hopefully] for my God.

69:4  Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head; those who would cut me off {and} destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are many {and} mighty. I am [forced] to restore what I did not steal.

69:5  O God, You know my folly {and} blundering; my sins {and} my guilt are not hidden from You.

69:6  Let not those who wait {and} hope {and} look for You, O Lord of hosts, be put to shame through me; let not those who seek {and} inquire for {and} require You [as their vital necessity] be brought to confusion {and} dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

69:7  Because for Your sake I have borne taunt {and} reproach; confusion {and} shame have covered my face.

69:8  I have become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to my mother's children.

69:9  For zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches {and} insults of those who reproach {and} insult You have fallen upon me.

69:10  When I wept {and} humbled myself with fasting, I was jeered at {and} humiliated;

69:11  When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword (an object of scorn) to them.

69:12  They who sit in [the city's] gate talk about me, and I am the song of the drunkards.

69:13  But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord. At an acceptable {and} opportune time, O God, in the multitude of Your mercy {and} the abundance of Your loving-kindness hear me, {and} in the truth {and} faithfulness of Your salvation answer me.

69:14  Rescue me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me and from out of the deep waters.

69:15  Let not the floodwaters overflow {and} overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up nor the [dug] pit [with water perhaps in the bottom] close its mouth over me.

69:16  Hear {and} answer me, O Lord, for Your loving-kindness is sweet {and} comforting; according to Your plenteous tender mercy {and} steadfast love turn to me.

69:17  Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress; O answer me speedily!

69:18  Draw close to me and redeem me; ransom {and} set me free because of my enemies [lest they glory in my prolonged distress]!

69:19  You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You [fully known to You].

69:20  Insults {and} reproach have broken my heart; I am full of heaviness {and} I am distressingly sick. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

69:21  They gave me also gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar (a soured wine) to drink.

69:22  Let their own table [with all its abundance and luxury] become a snare to them; and when they are secure in peace [or at their sacrificial feasts, let it become] a trap to them.

69:23  Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually [from terror, dismay, and feebleness].

69:24  Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the fierceness of Your burning anger catch up with them.

69:25  Let their habitation {and} their encampment be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.

69:26  For they pursue {and} persecute him whom You have smitten, and they gossip about those whom You have wounded, [adding] to their grief {and} pain.

69:27  Let one [unforgiven] perverseness {and} iniquity accumulate upon another for them [in Your book], and let them not come into Your righteousness {or} be justified and acquitted by You.

69:28  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living {and} the book of life and not be enrolled among the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright and in right standing with God).

69:29  But I am poor, sorrowful, and in pain; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.

69:30  I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving,

69:31  And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hoofs.

69:32  The humble shall see it and be glad; you who seek God, inquiring for {and} requiring Him [as your first need], let your hearts revive {and} live!

69:33  For the Lord hears the poor {and} needy and despises not His prisoners (His miserable and wounded ones).

69:34  Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them.

69:35  For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and [His servants] shall remain {and} dwell there and have it in their possession;

69:36  The children of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it.