Psalm 69

1. Save me, O God! The waters rise and leap / Up to my neck; the roaring floods surround me. / There is no foothold, deadly dangers hound me; / I’ve come into the waters of the deep. / I am engulfed by floods for me too great; / My throat is parched, I’m weary with my crying. / My eyes grow dim while for my God I wait. / O LORD, give ear and listen to my crying. /

2. More numerous than the hairs upon my head / Are those who without cause or reason scorn me. / Too strong for me are those whose hate has torn / me; / Those who attack me with their lies I dread. / Must I restore now what I did not steal? / I know I’ve done the things Thou hast forbidden. / O God, my folly I did not conceal; / From Thee my wrongs and misdeeds are not / hidden. /

3. Let not all those who put their hope in Thee / Be put to shame through me and be forsaken; / Let those who seek Thee not be overtaken / By slander and disgrace because of me. / O God of Israel, taunts and shame I’ve borne, / And for Thy sake I am to friend and brother / A stranger whom they disavow and scorn, / An alien to the children of my mother. W. van der Kamp, 1972; rev.