Psalms 69:16-36

¶Answer me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is sweet and good and comforting; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me. Do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly. Draw near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies [so that they do not delight in my distress]. You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor [how I am insulted]; My adversaries are all before You [each one fully known]. ¶Reproach and insults have broken my heart and I am so sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none. They (self-righteous hypocrites) also gave me gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. [Matt 27:34, 48] ¶May their table [with all its abundance and luxury] become a snare [to them]; And when they are in peace [secure at their sacrificial feasts], may it become a trap. May their eyes be dimmed so that they cannot see, And make their loins shake continually [in terror and weakness]. Pour out Your indignation on them, And let [the fierceness of] Your burning anger overtake them. May their encampment be desolate; May no one dwell in their tents. [Matt 23:38; Acts 1:20] For they have persecuted him whom You have struck, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have pierced and wounded. Add [unforgiven] iniquity to their iniquity [in Your book], And may they not come into Your righteousness. May they be blotted out of the book of life [and their lives come to an end] And may they not be recorded with the righteous (those in right standing with God). [Rev 3:4, 5; 20:12, 15; 21:27] ¶But I am sorrowful and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me [securely] on high. I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving. And it will please the LORD better than an ox Or a young bull with horns and hoofs. The humble have seen it and are glad; You who seek God [requiring Him as your greatest need], let your heart revive and live. [Ps 22:26; 42:1] For the LORD hears the needy And does not despise His who are prisoners. ¶Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, That His servants may remain there and possess it. The descendants of His servants will inherit it, And those who love His name will dwell in it.