1Deliver me, O God; for the waters have come in upon my soul! 2I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods have overflowed me. 3I am weary from my crying; my throat is dried; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. 4They who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; my deceitful enemies who would destroy me are mighty. I am made to bring back what I did not take away. 5O God, You know my folly, and my guilt is not hidden from You. 6Do not let those who wait upon You, O Lord Jehovah of Hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel, 7because I have borne reproach for Your sake, shame has covered my face. 8I have become a stranger to My brothers, and a foreigner to My mother's children. 9For the zeal of Your house has eaten Me up; and the reproaches of those who reproached You have fallen upon Me. 10When I wept in my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. 11I also made sackcloth my clothing, and I became a byword to them. 12Those who sit in the gate speak against me, and I am the taunting song of the drunkards. 13But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Jehovah, in a favorable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercies hear me, in the truth of Your salvation. 14Rescue me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be rescued from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. 15Do not let the flood of waters overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me. 16Hear me, O Jehovah, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. 17And hide not Your face from Your servant; for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. 18Draw near to My soul, and redeem it; deliver Me because of My enemies. 19You have known My reproach, and My shame, and My dishonor; My enemies are all before You. 20Reproach has broken My heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for someone to show pity, but there was no one; and for comforters, but I found none. 21They also gave Me gall for my food; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. 22Let their table become a snare before them; and to those at peace, a trap. 23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; and make their loins shake continually. 24Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let Your burning anger take hold of them. 25Let their dwelling place be desolate; let no one dwell in their tents. 26For they have persecuted the ones whom You have stricken, and they talk to the grief of those You pierced. 27Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into Your righteousness. 28Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be written with the righteous. 29But I am lowly and in pain; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high. 30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. 31This also shall please Jehovah better than an ox or a bull that has horns and hooves. 32The lowly shall see and be glad; and your heart shall live, you who seek God. 33For Jehovah hears the needy, and does not despise His prisoners. 34Let the heavens and earth praise Him, the seas, and everything that moves in them. 35For God will deliver Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it. 36And the seed of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 Upon Shoshannim--(See on
Ps 45:1, title). Mingling the language of prayer and complaint, the sufferer, whose condition is here set forth, pleads for God's help as one suffering in His cause, implores the divine retribution on his malicious enemies, and, viewing his deliverance as sure, promises praise by himself, and others, to whom God will extend like blessings. This Psalm is referred to seven times in the New Testament as prophetical of Christ and the gospel times. Although the character in which the Psalmist appears to some in
Ps 69:5 is that of a sinner, yet his condition as a sufferer innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the composition, and it may be therefore regarded throughout, as the twenty-second, as typically expressive of the feelings of our Saviour in the flesh. (Psa. 69:1-36)
(Compare
Ps 40:2).
come in unto my soul--literally, "come even to my soul," endanger my life by drowning (
Jonah 2:5).
3 (Compare
Ps 6:6).
mine eyes fail--in watching (
Ps 119:82).
4 hate me, &c.--(Compare
John 15:25). On the number and power of his enemies (compare
Ps 40:12).
then I restored . . . away--that is, he suffered wrongfully under the imputation of robbery.
5 This may be regarded as an appeal, vindicating his innocence, as if he had said, "If sinful, thou knowest," &c. Though David's condition as a sufferer may typify Christ's, without requiring that a parallel be found in character.
6 for my sake--literally, "in me," in my confusion and shame.
7 This plea contemplates his relation to God as a sufferer in His cause. Reproach, domestic estrangement (
Mark 3:21;
John 7:5), exhaustion in God's service (
John 2:17), revilings and taunts of base men were the sufferings.
10 wept (and chastened) my soul--literally, "wept away my soul," a strongly figurative description of deep grief.
12 sit in the gate--public place (
Pro 31:31).
13 With increasing reliance on God, he prays for help, describing his distress in the figures of
Ps 69:1-
Ps 69:2.
16 These earnest terms are often used, and the address to God, as indifferent or averse, is found in
Ps 3:7;
Ps 22:24;
Ps 27:9, &c.
19 Calling God to witness his distress, he presents its aggravation produced by the want of sympathizing friends (compare
Isa 63:5;
Mark 14:50).
21 Instead of such, his enemies increase his pain by giving him most distasteful food and drink. The Psalmist may have thus described by figure what Christ found in reality (compare
John 19:29-
John 19:30).
22 With unimportant verbal changes, this language is used by Paul to describe the rejection of the Jews who refused to receive the Saviour (
Rom 11:9-
Rom 11:10). The purport of the figures used is that blessings shall become curses, the "table" of joy (as one of food) a "snare," their
welfare--literally, "peaceful condition," or security, a "trap." Darkened eyes and failing strength complete the picture of the ruin falling on them under the invoked retribution.
23 continually to shake--literally, "to swerve" or bend in weakness.
24 An utter desolation awaits them. They will not only be driven from their homes, but their homes--or, literally, "palaces," indicative of wealth--shall be desolate (compare
Matt 23:38).
26 Though smitten of God (
Isa 53:4), men were not less guilty in persecuting the sufferer (
Acts 2:23).
talk to the grief--in respect to, about it, implying derision and taunts.
wounded--or, literally, "mortally wounded."
27 iniquity--or, "punishment of iniquity" (
Ps 40:12).
come . . . righteousness--partake of its benefits.
28 book of the living--or "life," with the next clause, a figurative mode of representing those saved, as having their names in a register (compare
Exod 32:32;
Isa 4:3).
29 poor and sorrowful--the afflicted pious, often denoted by such terms (compare
Ps 10:17;
Ps 12:5).
set me . . . high--out of danger.
30 Spiritual are better than mere material offerings (
Ps 40:6;
Ps 50:8); hence a promise of the former, and rather contemptuous terms are used of the latter.
32 Others shall rejoice. "Humble" and poor, as in
Ps 69:29.
your heart, &c.--address to such (compare
Ps 22:26).
33 prisoners--peculiarly liable to be despised.
34 The call on the universe for praise is well sustained by the prediction of the perpetual and extended blessings which shall come upon the covenant-people of God. Though, as usual, the imagery is taken from terms used of Palestine, the whole tenor of the context indicates that the spiritual privileges and blessings of the Church are meant.