Psalm 69

1 Save me, 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, where the floods overflow me.

3 I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

5 God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.

6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord GOD of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children.

9 For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10 When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

16 Answer me, LORD, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

17 Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!

18 Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.

19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.

20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

21 They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.

24 Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

25 Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

27 Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness.

28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.

29 But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

32 The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.

33 For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!

35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.

36 The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

Around Psalm 69

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes