Read The Message Psalms 69 Bible Online

Psalms 69 - The Message bible

Psalms 69

¹God, God, save me! I’m in over my head,

²Quicksand under me, swamp water over me; I’m going down for the third time.

³I’m hoarse from calling for help, Bleary-eyed from searching the sky for God.

⁴I’ve got more enemies than hairs on my head; Liars and cheats are out to knife me in the back. What I never stole Must I now give back?

⁵God, you know every sin I’ve committed; My life’s a wide-open book before you.

⁶Don’t let those who look to you in hope Be discouraged by what happens to me, Dear Lord! GOD of the armies! Don’t let those out looking for you Come to a dead end by following me— Please, dear God of Israel!

⁷Because of you I look like an idiot, I walk around ashamed to show my face.

⁸My brothers shun me like a bum off the street; My family treats me like an unwanted guest.

⁹I love you more than I can say. Because I’m madly in love with you, They blame me for everything they dislike about you.

¹⁰When I poured myself out in prayer and fasting, All it got me was more contempt.

¹¹When I put on a sad face, They treated me like a clown.

¹²Now drunks and gluttons Make up drinking songs about me.

¹³And me? I pray. GOD, it’s time for a break! God, answer in love! Answer with your sure salvation!

¹⁴Rescue me from the swamp, Don’t let me go under for good, Pull me out of the clutch of the enemy; This whirlpool is sucking me down.

¹⁵Don’t let the swamp be my grave, the Black Hole Swallow me, its jaws clenched around me.

¹⁶Now answer me, GOD, because you love me; Let me see your great mercy full-face.

¹⁷Don’t look the other way; your servant can’t take it. I’m in trouble. Answer right now!

¹⁸Come close, God; get me out of here. Rescue me from this deathtrap.

¹⁹You know how they kick me around— Pin on me the donkey’s ears, the dunce’s cap.

²⁰I’m broken by their taunts, Flat on my face, reduced to a nothing. I looked in vain for one friendly face. Not one. I couldn’t find one shoulder to cry on.

²¹They put poison in my soup, Vinegar in my drink.

²²Let their supper be bait in a trap that snaps shut; May their best friends be trappers who’ll skin them alive.

²³Make them become blind as bats, Give them the shakes from morning to night.

²⁴Let them know what you think of them, Blast them with your red-hot anger.

²⁵Burn down their houses, Leave them desolate with nobody at home.

²⁶They gossiped about the one you disciplined, Made up stories about anyone wounded by God.

²⁷Pile on the guilt, Don’t let them off the hook.

²⁸Strike their names from the list of the living; No rock-carved honor for them among the righteous.

²⁹I’m hurt and in pain; Give me space for healing, and mountain air.

³⁰Let me shout God’s name with a praising song, Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks.

³¹For GOD, this is better than oxen on the altar, Far better than blue-ribbon bulls.

³²The poor in spirit see and are glad— Oh, you God-seekers, take heart!

³³For GOD listens to the poor, He doesn’t walk out on the wretched.

³⁴You heavens, praise him; praise him, earth; Also ocean and all things that swim in it.

³⁵For God is out to help Zion, Rebuilding the wrecked towns of Judah. Guess who will live there— The proud owners of the land?

³⁶No, the children of his servants will get it, The lovers of his name will live in it.