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Psalms

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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 The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer and Psalm 69:3

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 69 follows ancient Near Eastern lament traditions by portraying a righteous person in distress who calls for help to his deity but receives no reply, echoing a common theological background where the divine will is difficult to determine.

Passages

The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi
Day was sighing, night lamentation. Like a dove I moaned all my days, like a singer I wailed my lament. My eyes burned with tears. Year followed year and misery increased. I called to my god, but he did not answer; I implored my goddess, but she did not heed. The diviner could not clarify my case, the dream interpreter found no answer. The exorcist did not release the divine anger. I was treated like one who neglected the gods, like one who abandoned offerings and festivals,
1300 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer

Psalm 69:3

Hebrew Bible
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.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer is a poetic monologue, opening and concluding with hymns, that tells how a certain noble gentleman, once important and prosperous, for no apparent reason was driven to disgrace and disease by the god Marduk. His story is set forth as exemplary of the two sides to divine character, anger and forgiveness, and as exemplary of the unfathomable will of the gods ..."
Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature, 3rd ed. (Bethesda, MD: CDL, 2005), 392.

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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The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer and Psalm 69:3

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