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Psalm 69:1
For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
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.
Notice
Waters at the neck make the plea for rescue urgent, showing how prayer can begin when distress leaves little room for measured words.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What in your life, if anything, feels like water rising to your neck?
Write on thisWhat help would you ask God for if you kept your prayer to one sentence?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Isaiah 43:2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be …Both passages speak of threatening waters: the psalm asks God for rescue, while Isaiah promises God’s presence through them.
Psalm 69:14–15Deliver 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.The opening cry for rescue returns as a plea to be delivered from deep waters and from those who hate the speaker.
Hebrews 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been …Both describe urgent prayer directed to God for salvation from mortal danger.
Psalm 45:1For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Lilies.” A contemplation by the sons of Korah. A wedding song. My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses …Both headings name lilies in their musical directions, though one introduces a cry for rescue and the other a wedding song.
Lamentations 3:54Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”Both describe distress through rising waters, reaching the neck in the psalm and covering the head in Lamentations.
Psalm 118:25Save us now, we beg you, LORD! LORD, we beg you, send prosperity now.Both address God with an urgent plea to save, one from a single speaker and one from a group.
Revelation 17:15He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.The shared feature is water imagery; Revelation identifies its waters as peoples, while the psalm uses waters to express danger.
Jonah 2:3–5For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.Both speakers address God from the threat of overwhelming waters; Jonah also says God threw him into the depths.
Psalm 69:2I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.The next verse extends the rising-water image into sinking mire, lost footing, and floods that overflow the speaker.
Revelation 12:15–16The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.Both portray water as a threat to life, though Revelation describes a serpent sending the stream against a woman.
Job 22:11or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.Both use overwhelming waters to describe distress, though the shared image does not establish a shared cause.
Isaiah 28:17I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding …Both depict threatening waters; Isaiah names judgment against a refuge of lies, while the psalm’s opening plea gives no cause.
Where this verse fits
Anxiety or panic. grief. illness or diagnosis.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The cry is addressed to God before any rescue is described. Your prayer can be brief and strained; this psalm begins with a plea for help.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 69:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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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).