1 Save me, God,

for the water has risen to my neck.  *

2 I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing;

I have come into deep water,

and a flood sweeps over me.  *

3 I am weary from my crying;

my throat is parched.

My eyes fail, looking for my God.  *

4 Those who hate me without cause

are more numerous than the hairs of my head;

my deceitful enemies, who would destroy me,

are powerful.  *

Though I did not steal, I must repay.  *

5 God, you know my foolishness,

and my guilty acts are not hidden from you.  *

6 Do not let those who put their hope in you

be disgraced because of me,

Lord God of Armies;

do not let those who seek you

be humiliated because of me,

God of Israel.  *

7 For I have endured insults because of you,

and shame has covered my face.  *

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers

and a foreigner to my mother’s sons  *

9 because zeal for your house has consumed me,  *

and the insults of those who insult you

have fallen on me.  *

10 I mourned and fasted,

but it brought me insults.  *

11 I wore sackcloth as my clothing,

and I was a joke to them.

12 Those who sit at the city gate talk about me,

and drunkards make up songs about me.  *

13 But as for me, Lord,

my prayer to you is for a time of favor.

In your abundant, faithful love, God,

answer me with your sure salvation.  *

14 Rescue me from the miry mud; don’t let me sink.

Let me be rescued from those who hate me

and from the deep water.  *

15 Don’t let the floodwaters sweep over me

or the deep swallow me up;

don’t let the Pit close its mouth over me.  *

16 Answer me, Lord,

for your faithful love is good.

In keeping with your abundant compassion,

turn to me.  *

17 Don’t hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress.

Answer me quickly!  *

18 Come near to me and redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies.  *

19 You know the insults I endure —

my shame and disgrace.

You are aware of all my adversaries.  *

20 Insults have broken my heart,

and I am in despair.

I waited for sympathy,

but there was none;

for comforters, but found no one.  *

21 Instead, they gave me gall for my food,

and for my thirst

they gave me vinegar to drink.  *

22 Let their table set before them be a snare,

and let it be a trap for their allies.  *

23 Let their eyes grow too dim to see,

and let their hips continually quake.  *

24 Pour out your rage on them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.  *

25 Make their fortification desolate;

may no one live in their tents.  *

26 For they persecute the one you struck

and talk about the pain of those you wounded.  *

27 Charge them with crime on top of crime;

do not let them share in your righteousness.  *

28 Let them be erased from the book of life

and not be recorded with the righteous.  *

29 But as for me — poor and in pain —

let your salvation protect me, God.  *

30 I will praise God’s name with song

and exalt him with thanksgiving.  *

31 That will please the Lord more than an ox,

more than a bull with horns and hooves.  *

32 The humble will see it and rejoice.

You who seek God, take heart!  *

33 For the Lord listens to the needy

and does not despise

his own who are prisoners.  *

34 Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them,  *

35 for God will save Zion

and build up  * the cities of Judah.

They will live there and possess it.  *

36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it,

and those who love his name will live in it.  *