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Psalm 69:2
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
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.
Notice
Mire offers no foothold, and floodwater leaves no room to breathe: the verse describes distress in which even a place to stand is gone.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
Where does “no foothold” describe something you are facing today?
Write on thisWhat would you want to tell God through the picture of floodwaters rising over you?
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Where else Scripture says this
10 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
Psalm 40:2He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.Both passages describe mire and uncertain footing; Psalm 40 recounts rescue onto rock, while Psalm 69 speaks from within the danger.
Matthew 7:25The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.Floods threaten in both passages, with a contrast between the psalm’s missing foothold and the house’s foundation on rock.
Psalm 88:6–7You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.Both prayers describe distress through depth: sinking into mire and water in Psalm 69, and the lowest pit in Psalm 88.
Psalm 32:6For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.Overflowing waters appear in both prayers, though Psalm 69 describes being overwhelmed and Psalm 32 speaks of protection from their reach.
Jeremiah 38:6Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In …Sinking in mire connects the psalm’s picture of distress with Jeremiah’s physical ordeal in the dungeon.
Jeremiah 38:22‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar …Both texts use feet sinking in mire to portray a helpless position, with Jeremiah’s passage naming friends who turn away.
Psalm 69:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!The opening plea asks God to save as waters reach the neck; the next verse describes sinking beneath their overflow.
Genesis 7:17–23The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.Rising floodwaters connect the passages, though Genesis describes waters lifting the ship and the psalm describes a person sinking.
Matthew 26:37–38He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.Both passages express severe distress: the psalm through sinking and floods, Matthew through Jesus’ sorrow and trouble.
Judges 12:6then they said to him, “Now say ‘Shibboleth;’” and he said “Sibboleth”; for he couldn’t manage to pronounce it correctly, then they seized him and killed him …The connection is limited to danger near water: the psalm describes overwhelming floods, while Judges records killings at the Jordan’s fords.
Where this verse fits
Anxiety or panic. grief. feeling distant from God.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not need to soften distress before bringing it to God. This prayer speaks from the mire, while the waters still rise and no foothold has appeared.
Now put it in your words.
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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).