Save me, O God, because the floods
Come in upon my soul;
I sink in depths where none can stand;
Deep waters, o’er me roll.

My constant calling wearies me,
My throat is parched and dried,
My eyes grow dim while for my God
Still waiting I abide.

O God, my folly and my sin
Thy holy eye can see;
Yet save from shame, Lord God of hosts,
Thy saints that wait on Thee.

Forbid, O God, our covenant God,
That those who seek Thy face
Should see Thy servant put to shame
And share in my disgrace.

It is for Thee I am reproached,
For Thee I suffer shame,
Until my brethren know me not,
And hated is my name.

It is my zeal for Thine abode
That has consumed my life;
Reproached by those reproaching Thee,
I suffer in the strife.

I wept, with fasting bowed my soul,
Yet that was made my shame;
When I in sackcloth clothed myself,
Their byword I became.

The men who sit within the gate
With slander do me wrong,
And they who linger at their cups
Make me their jest and song.

Save me, O God, the swelling floods
Break in upon my soul;
I sink, and sorrows o’er my head
Like mighty waters roll.

I cry till all my voice be gone,
In tears I waste the day:
My God, behold my longing eyes,
And shorten Thy delay.

They hate my soul without a cause,
And still their number grows
More than the hairs around my head,
And mighty are my foes.

’Twas then I paid that dreadful debt
That men could never pay,
And gave those honors to Thy law
Which sinners took away.

Thus in the great Messiah’s name,
The royal prophet mourns;
Thus he awakes our hearts to grief,
And gives us joy by turns.

Now shall the saints rejoice, and find
Salvation in My Name;
For I have borne their heavy load
Of sorrow, pain, and shame.

Grief, like a garment, clothed Me round,
And sackcloth was My dress,
While I procured for naked souls
A robe of righteousness.

Amongst My brethren and the Jews
I like a stranger stood,
And bore their vile reproach, to bring
The Gentiles near to God.

I came in sinful mortals’ stead,
To do My Father’s will;
Yet when I cleansed My Father’s house,
They scandalized My zeal.

My fasting and My holy groans
Were made the drunkard’s song;
But God, from His celestial throne,
Heard My complaining tongue.

He saved Me from the dreadful deep,
Nor let My soul be drowned;
He raised and fixed My sinking feet
On well-established ground.

’Twas in a most accepted hour
My prayer arose on high;
And for My sake my God shall hear
The dying sinner’s cry.