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¹ To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Psalm of David. Save me, O 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, and the flood sweeps over me.³ I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.⁴ More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?⁵ O God, thou knowest my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from thee.⁶ Let not those who hope in thee be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.⁷ For it is for thy sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.⁸ I have become a stranger to my brethren, an alien to my mother's sons.⁹ For zeal for thy house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.¹⁰ When I humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me. With thy faithful help¹⁴ rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.¹⁵ Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.¹⁶ Answer me, O LORD, for thy steadfast love is good; according to thy abundant mercy, turn to me.¹⁷ Hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.¹⁸ Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies!¹⁹ Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to thee.²⁰ Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.²¹ They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²² Let their own table before them become a snare; let their sacrificial feasts be a trap.²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; and make their loins tremble continually.²⁴ Pour out thy indignation upon them, and let thy burning anger overtake them.²⁵ May their camp be a desolation, let no one dwell in their tents.²⁶ For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and him whom thou hast wounded, they afflict still more.²⁷ Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from thee.²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain; let thy salvation, O God, set me on high!

³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.³¹ This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.³² Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.³³ For the LORD hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds.³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves therein.³⁵ For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and his servants shall dwell there and possess it;³⁶ the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.