Psalms 69King James Version
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Quoted in the crucifixion narratives.
A massive lament: waters come in unto the soul, the speaker sinks in mire, weary of crying, eyes failing. He has borne reproach for God's sake; estranged from brethren; given gall to drink and vinegar for thirst. The imprecatory section is fierce: let their habitation be desolate, let them not come into righteousness. Then the pivot: I will praise with song; the humble will see and live. The whole creation is asked to praise. NT quotations saturate this psalm.
The deepest suffering borne in loyalty to God becomes the occasion for the widest praise, connecting the one person in the mire to all who seek God.
verse: "Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." Quoted in John 19:28 and Romans 15:3 in reference to Christ.
Superscription: 'To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.' Shoshannim means 'lilies,' possibly a tune. The mire and deep waters imagery belongs to a cosmic category of chaos, not merely political trouble. The psalm's length (36 verses) and emotional range make it one of the most complete lament specimens in the Psalter.
The psalmist as the one sinking; God as the one addressed and delayed; enemies who gave gall and vinegar; brethren who became strangers; the humble who will see and be glad; Zion and Judah who will dwell and possess.
Psalm 69 is the second most quoted psalm in the NT after Psalm 22. Verse 9 ('zeal of thine house hath eaten me up') is quoted in John 2:17 at the temple cleansing. Verse 21 (gall and vinegar) in the Passion narratives. Verse 25 in Acts 1:20 about Judas. The psalm was understood as a prophetic description of the Messiah's suffering.
For when your loyalty has cost you everything and no one has shown up to comfort you. The psalm does not require you to pretend the isolation is smaller than it is.
1[To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.] Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
2I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
5O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.
6Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
7Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
8I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.
9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
10When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
11I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.
12They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.
13But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
14Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
17And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
18Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
19Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.
20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
23Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
24Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
25Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
26For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
27Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.
28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
29But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
33For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
34Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.
35For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.
36The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.