God’s servant almost submerged by the waters of suffering and death calls to the Lord for help. Christ has applied to himself several terms of this prayer. After having been saved from death, he will be the happiness of all who seek God.
① 1* 2Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
3I am sunk in the miry depths where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, swept and engulfed by the flood.
4I am weary from calling for help; my throat is hoarse and parched. My eyes have grown dim looking for my God.
5More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me for no reason; mighty are those who attack me, many are my enemies without cause. What I did not steal I am forced to restore.
6Had I done wrong, O God, you would know it; my faults would not be hidden from you.
7Let me not bring disgrace to those who hope in you, O Lord God of hosts; may I cause no dishonor to those who seek you, O God of Israel
8– since I am held in contempt for your sake, and shame has covered my face.
9I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother’s sons.
10Zeal for your house consumes me as fire and those who insult you insult me as well.
11When I humbled myself with fasting, I was scorned for it.
12When I put on sackcloth, I was made a laughingstock.
13I have become the talk of those who sit at the gates, the topic of the drunkards’ songs.
14But I pray to you, O Lord, at a time most favorable to you. In your great love, O God, answer me with your unfailing help.
15Rescue me, lest I sink in the mire; deliver me from the storm and the deep waters.
16Let not the flood engulf me, nor the deep suck me in, let not the pit close its mouth upon me.
17In your mercy, O Lord, give me a good answer; in your great compassion, turn to me.
18Hide not your face from your servant; answer me at once for I am in distress.
19Come and rescue me; set me free from my enemies.
20You know the disgrace I suffer, and you know my oppressors and my humiliations.
21Dishonor has driven me to despair; I looked for sympathy and there was none, for comforters and there was no one.
22They gave me poison for food and vinegar to drink.
23May snares be set for them in their banquets and traps in their sacred feasts.
24May their eyes grow dim, so that they will not see; may their loins be stricken with palsy.
25Pour out your fury upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
26Make their camp desolate; may no one dwell in their tents,
27for they persecute the one you have wounded, and increased the pain of the one you have struck.
28Charge them with crime upon crime, and do not acquit them.
29Blot them out of the book of life, and do not enroll them among the upright.
30But I myself am humbled and wounded; your salvation, O God, will lift me up.
31I will praise the name of God in song; I will glorify him with thanks giving.
32This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and divided hoofs.
33Let the lowly witness this and be glad. You who seek God, may your hearts be revived.
34For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise those in captivity.
35Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and whatever moves in them.
36For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. His people shall dwell in the land and possess it;
37the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell in it.
- Ps 69,2 The prayer of a believer who, no doubt, would be less a target of mockery and affront from his circle if he were not known as a Christian. A jealous love of your house devours me, draws insults from those who insult you (see Jn 2:17). Let us not think too quickly that if we are persecuted, it is because we are believers; and yet Jesus said that must be. Humiliation - often justified - will accompany the graces and the glory which God gives his children (2 Cor 4:7).
