1Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2I sink in deep mud, where there is no place to stand. I have come into deep waters, and the floods sweep over me.
3I am worn out with crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to destroy me are strong, though they are my enemies wrongly. Then I gave back what I did not take away.
5O God, you know my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from you.
6O Lord GOD of hosts, do not let those who wait for you be ashamed because of me. O God of Israel, do not let those who seek you be disgraced because of me.
7For your sake I have borne insults. Shame has covered my face.
8I have become a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother's children.
9For the zeal of your house has eaten me up. The insults of those who insulted you have fallen on me.
10When I wept and humbled myself with fasting, that too became an insult against me.
11I made sackcloth my clothing, and I became a byword to them.
12Those who sit in the gate speak against me. I am the song of the drunkards.
13But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD, at an acceptable time. O God, in your great mercy answer me, in the truth of your salvation.
14Rescue me out of the mud, and do not let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15Do not let the flood of water sweep over me. Do not let the deep swallow me up. Do not let the pit close its mouth over me.
16Answer me, O LORD, for your lovingkindness is good. Turn to me according to your many tender mercies.
17Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in trouble. Answer me quickly.
18Come near to my soul and redeem it. Set me free because of my enemies.
19You know the insults I bear, and my shame and my dishonour. All those against me are before you.
20Insults have broken my heart, and I am full of sorrow. I looked for someone to take pity, but there was no one; and for comforters, but I found none.
21They gave me also poison for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22Let their table become a snare before them, and let what should have been for their welfare become a trap.
23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see. Make their bodies shake without ceasing.
24Pour out your anger on them, and let your burning wrath take hold of them.
25Let the place where they live be empty. Let no one live in their tents.
26For they chase the one you have struck, and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.
27Add sin to their sin, and do not let them come into your righteousness.
28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
29But I am poor and full of sorrow. O God, let your salvation lift me up on high.
30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will make him great with thanksgiving.
31This will please the LORD better than an ox, or a young bull with horns and hoofs.
32The humble will see this and be glad. You who seek God, your heart shall live.
33For the LORD hears the poor, and does not despise his prisoners.
34Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in them.
35For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, so that they may live there and own it.
36The children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will live there.