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Psalm 69

Psalm 69 brings undeserved hatred before God, seeking rescue and judgment before widening into praise and hope for Zion.

A man surrounded by enemies cries to God as though floodwaters are rising around his neck. The heading names David, though the particular crisis is not identified. He describes false accusations, estrangement from his brothers, and mockery tied to his devotion to God. His pleas for rescue turn into severe prayers for judgment against his persecutors. Still in pain, he turns toward thanksgiving, ending with confidence that God hears the needy and will restore Zion.

injustice and angerlonelinessfeeling distant from God
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1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
2I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.
4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
5God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.
6Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord GOD of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.
8I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children.
9For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.
11When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
13But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.
14Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.
16Answer me, LORD, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.
17Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!
18Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.
19You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.
20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
21They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.
24Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
25Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.
26For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
27Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness.
28Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
29But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.
33For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.
34Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!
35For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.
36The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.
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Key verses
Psalm 69:1The opening cry introduces the flood imagery that carries the speaker’s sense of danger and urgent need for God.
Psalm 69:9Devotion to God’s house exposes the speaker to reproach, linking his suffering with the insults directed against God.
Psalm 69:21Poison and vinegar sharpen the account of cruelty: even the speaker’s hunger and thirst become occasions for harm.
Where this chapter reaches

John and Romans quote verse 9 in relation to Jesus, connecting his zeal for God’s house and his bearing of reproach with this psalm. Matthew, Mark, and John share its vinegar detail in their crucifixion accounts, while Acts quotes its prayer for a deserted dwelling in connection with Judas.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out about the speaker admitting his sins while protesting accusations he says are false?

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How does the closing hope for Zion change your reading of the speaker’s loneliness and distress?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 69

Who wrote Psalm 69?

The heading attributes Psalm 69 to David and assigns it to the Chief Musician, to the tune of “Lilies.” The psalm does not identify a particular event in David’s life. Its closing concern for Zion and Judah has prompted discussion about its setting, but the text names no other author.

Is Psalm 69 about Jesus?

John and Romans apply words from this psalm to Jesus, and the crucifixion accounts share its detail of vinegar offered to the sufferer. The psalm also speaks from the circumstances of its attributed author, David. Verse 5 acknowledges the speaker’s sins, so every line should not be treated as Jesus speaking about himself.

Why does Psalm 69 ask God to punish enemies?

Verses 22–28 ask God to judge persecutors who exploit the speaker’s suffering. These are severe petitions, including exclusion from the book of life. They place judgment in God’s hands; the speaker does not describe taking revenge himself. The stated grounds are the enemies’ cruelty toward people already wounded and distressed.

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Psalms · 150 chapters
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What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about loneliness →What the Bible says about doubt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).