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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 69

1 For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”; by David. Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck. 2 I sink into the deep mire where there is no solid ground; I am in deep water, and the current overpowers me. 3 I am exhausted from shouting for help. My throat is sore; my eyes grow tired from looking for my God.⁠ 4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head. Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, outnumber me. They make me repay what I did not steal. 5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins; my guilt is not hidden from you. 6 Let none who rely on you be disgraced because of me, O Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Let none who seek you be ashamed because of me, O God of Israel. 7 For I suffer humiliation for your sake and am thoroughly disgraced. 8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger; they act as if I were a foreigner. 9 Certainly zeal for your house consumes me; I endure the insults of those who insult you. 10 I weep and refrain from eating food, which causes others to insult me. 11 I wear sackcloth and they ridicule me. 12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me; drunkards mock me in their songs. 13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me. O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance. 14 Rescue me from the mud. Don’t let me sink. Deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep water.⁠ 15 Don’t let the current overpower me. Don’t let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the Pit devour me. 16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good. Because of your great compassion, turn toward me. 17 Do not ignore your servant, for I am in trouble. Answer me right away. 18 Come near me and redeem me. Because of my enemies, rescue me. 19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated, and disgraced; you can see all my enemies. 20 Their insults are painful and make me lose heart; I look for sympathy, but receive none, for comforters, but find none. 21 They put bitter poison into my food, and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink.⁠ 22 May their dining table become a trap before them. May it be a snare for that group of friends. 23 May their eyes be blinded. Make them shake violently.⁠ 24 Pour out your judgment on them. May your raging anger overtake them. 25 May their camp become desolate, their tents uninhabited. 26 For they harass the one whom you discipline; they spread the news about the suffering of those whom you punish. 27 Hold them accountable for all their sins. Do not vindicate them. 28 May their names be deleted from the scroll of the living. Do not let their names be listed with the godly.⁠ 29 I am oppressed and suffering. O God, deliver and protect me. 30 I will sing praises to God’s name. I will magnify him as I give him thanks. 31 That will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hooves. 32 The oppressed look on—let them rejoice. You who seek God, may you be encouraged. 33 For the Lord listens to the needy; he does not despise his captive people. 34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him, along with the seas and everything that swims in them. 35 For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, and his people will again live in them and possess Zion. 36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it, and those who are loyal to him will live in it.

Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Samuel 22:5 and Psalm 69:15

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 69 describes death as being swept away by deep, overwhelming waters. 2 Samuel uses similar language of waves of death and snares of Sheol, both drawing on ancient Near Eastern traditions that connect the chaotic sea with the realm of the dead.

Passages

2 Samuel 22:5

Hebrew Bible
3 My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, my stronghold, my refuge, my savior. You save me from violence! 4 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. 5 The waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me. 6 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me; the snares of death trapped me. 7 In my distress I called to the Lord; I called to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Samuel

Psalm 69:15

Hebrew Bible
13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me. O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance. 14 Rescue me from the mud. Don’t let me sink. Deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep water. 15 Don’t let the current overpower me. Don’t let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the Pit devour me. 16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good. Because of your great compassion, turn toward me. 17 Do not ignore your servant, for I am in trouble. Answer me right away.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... the earth as the place where the bodies of other people are to be found would surely have to be mentioned too. But in any case, the object of both clauses is 'the dead'. The language is clearly not intended to distinguish soul and body, but simply to speak of the return of the dead. There seem then to be two possible explanations for the reference to the sea. It may be the place for a special category of the dead: those who have died at sea. Whereas those who are buried in the earth are thought of as being in Sheol/Hades, those who die at sea are thought of as being in the subterranean ocean. But there seems to be no other evidence for this distinction. So more probably, and in the light of several Old Testament passages which closely associate the subterranean ocean with Sheol (e.g. 2 Samuel 22:5-6; Job 26:5; Psalm 69:15), the sea is here simply another synonym for Sheol ..."
Richard Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, NovTSup 93 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 280–281.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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2 Samuel 22:5 and Psalm 69:15

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