Mazmur 69:8-19

69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;

they act as if I were a foreigner. ¹ 

69:9 Certainly ²  zeal for ³  your house ⁴  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ⁵ 

69:10 I weep and refrain from eating food, ⁶ 

which causes others to insult me. ⁷ 

69:11 I wear sackcloth

and they ridicule me. ⁸ 

69:12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me;

drunkards mock me in their songs. ⁹ 

69:13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! ¹⁰ 

O God, because of your great loyal love,

answer me with your faithful deliverance! ¹¹ 

69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink!

Deliver me ¹²  from those who hate me,

from the deep water!

69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!

Don’t let the deep swallow me up!

Don’t let the pit ¹³  devour me! ¹⁴ 

69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! ¹⁵ 

Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!

69:17 Do not ignore ¹⁶  your servant,

for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! ¹⁷ 

69:18 Come near me and redeem me! ¹⁸ 

Because of my enemies, rescue me!

69:19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated and disgraced;

you can see all my enemies. ¹⁹ 

[69:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”

[69:9]  ² tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ³ tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ⁴ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[69:9]  sn Jn 2:17 applies the first half of this verse to Jesus’ ministry in the context of John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple.

[69:10]  ⁶ sn Fasting was a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.

[69:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and it becomes insults to me.”

[69:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I am an object of ridicule to them.”

[69:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”

[69:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “as for me, [may] my prayer be to you, O Lord, [in] a time of favor.”

[69:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “O God, in the abundance of your loyal love, answer me in the faithfulness of your deliverance.”

[69:14]  ¹² tn Heb “let me be delivered.”

[69:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).

[69:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”

[69:16]  ¹⁵ tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”

[69:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[69:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “quickly.”

[69:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

[69:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “before you [are] all my enemies.”