1  Save me, O God!

For the ^owaters have come up to my neck.¹

2  I sink in deep ^pmire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the ^qflood sweeps over me.

3  ^rI am weary with my crying out;

my throat is parched.

^sMy eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

4  More in number than the hairs of my head

are ^tthose who hate me ^uwithout cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

5  O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6  ^vLet not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

7  For it is ^wfor your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

8  ^xI have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

9  For ^yzeal for your house has consumed me,

and ^zthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10  When I wept and humbled² my soul with ^afasting,

it became my reproach.

11  When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12  I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,

and the drunkards make ^bsongs about me.

13  ^cBut as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the ^dabundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the ^edeep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, ^fturn to me.

17  ^gHide not your face from your servant,

for ^hI am in distress; make haste to answer me.

18  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

19  You know my reproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20  Reproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none,

and for comforters, but I found none.

21  They gave me poison for food,

and for my ⁱthirst they gave me ^jsour wine to drink.

22  ^kLet their own table before them become a snare;

and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.³

23  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

and make their loins tremble continually.

24  ^lPour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

25  ^mMay their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

26  For they persecute him whom you have struck down,

and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

27  Add to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.⁴

28  Let them be ⁿblotted out of the ^obook of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

29  But ^pI am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

30  I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31  ^qThis will please the Lord more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32  ^rWhen the humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

33  For the Lord hears the needy

and ^sdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34  ^tLet heaven and earth praise him,

^uthe seas and everything that moves in them.

35  For God will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36  the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who ^vlove his name shall dwell in it.

1  When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and ^qout of Egypt I called ^rmy son.

2  The more they were called,

the more they went away;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals

and ^sburning offerings to idols.

3  ^tYet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them up by their arms,

but they did not know that ^uI healed them.

4  I led them with cords of kindness,¹

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the ^vyoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and ^wfed them.

5  They shall not² return to the land of Egypt,

but Assyria shall be their king,

because they have refused to return to me.

6  The sword shall rage against their cities,

consume the bars of their gates,

and devour them because of their own counsels.

7  My people are bent on ^xturning away from me,

and though they call out to the Most High,

he shall not raise them up at all.

8  How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

^yHow can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

9  I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for ^zI am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.³