Day XIII : Evening Prayer

69 - Salvum me fac

1  Save me, O God, *
for the waters have come up even to my neck.

2  I sink down in the deep mire, where there is no ground; *
I have come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me.

3  I am weary of crying; my throat is dry; *
my sight fails me from waiting so long for my God.

4  Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; *
those who are my enemies, and would destroy me wrongfully, are mighty.

5  They bid me restore things I never took. *
O God, you know my foolishness, and my faults are not hidden from you.

6  Let not those who trust in you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; *
let not those who seek you be confounded through me, O God of Israel. 

7  Surely for your sake have I suffered reproach; *
shame has covered my face.

8  I have become a stranger to my brethren, *
unknown to my mother’s children,

9  Because zeal for your house has consumed me, *
and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.

10  I wept, and humbled myself with fasting, *
but that was turned to my reproach.

11  I put on sackcloth also, *
and I became a byword among them.

12  Those who sit in the gate speak against me, *
and the drunkards make songs about me.

13  But, Lord, I make my prayer to you *
in an acceptable time.

14  Hear me, O God, in the multitude of your mercy, *
even in the truth of your salvation.

15  Take me out of the mire, lest I sink; *
O let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

16  Let not the floodwaters drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up, *
and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.

17  Hear me, O Lord, for your loving-kindness is good; *
turn to me according to the multitude of your mercies;

18  And hide not your face from your servant, for I am in trouble; *
O hasten and hear me.

19  Draw near to me and save me; *
O deliver me because of my enemies.

20  You have known my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; *
my adversaries are all in your sight.

21  Reproach has broken my heart; I am full of heaviness; *
I looked for some to have pity on me, but there was no one, neither have I found any to comfort me.

22  They gave me gall to eat, *
and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.

23  Let their table become a snare for them, *
and let their prosperity become a trap for them.

24  Let their eyes be blinded, that they may not see, *
and make their loins tremble continually.

25  Pour out your indignation upon them, *
and let your wrathful displeasure overtake them.

26  Let their habitation be desolate, *
and let no one dwell in their tents.

27  For they persecute him whom you have stricken, *
and they talk of the pain of those you have wounded.

28  Lay to their charge guilt upon guilt, *
and let them not receive your vindication.

29  Let them be wiped out of the book of the living, *
and not be written among the righteous.

30  As for me, when I am poor and in pain, *
your help, O God, shall lift me up.

31  I will praise the Name of God with a song, *
and magnify it with thanksgiving.

32  This also shall please the Lord *
more than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hooves.

33  The humble shall consider this and be glad; *
seek after God and your hearts shall live.

34  For the Lord hears the poor *
and does not despise his prisoners.

35  Let heaven and earth praise him, *
the sea, and all that moves therein.

36  For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, *
that they may dwell there and have it in possession.

37  The posterity of his servants shall inherit it, *
and those who love his Name shall dwell therein.