Psalms 68

¹Unto the end. For those who will be changed: of David.

²Save me, O God, for the waters have entered, even to my soul.

³I have become stuck in a deep quagmire, and there is no firm footing. I have arrived at the height of the sea, and a tempest has overwhelmed me.

⁴I have endured hardships, while crying out. My jaws have become hoarse; my eyes have failed. Meanwhile, I hope in my God.

⁵Those who hate me without cause have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head. My enemies, who persecuted me unjustly, have been strengthened. Then I was required to pay for what I did not take.

⁶O God, you know my foolishness, and my offenses have not been hidden from you.

⁷Let those who wait for you, O Lord, the Lord of hosts, not be shamed in me. Let those who seek you, O God of Israel, not be confounded over me.

⁸For because of you, I have endured reproach; confusion has covered my face.

⁹I have become a stranger to my brothers and a sojourner to the sons of my mother.

¹⁰For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.

¹¹And I covered my soul with fasting, and it has become a reproach to me.

¹²And I put on a haircloth as my garment, and I became a parable to them.

¹³Those who sat at the gate spoke against me, and those who drank wine made me their song.

¹⁴But as for me, truly, my prayer is to you, O Lord. This time has pleased you well, O God. In the multitude of your mercy, in the truth of your salvation, hear me.

¹⁵Rescue me from the quagmire, so that I may not become trapped. Free me from those who hate me and from deep waters.

¹⁶Do not allow the tempest of water to submerge me, nor the deep to absorb me. And do not allow the well to close in on me.

¹⁷Hear me, O Lord, for your mercy is kind. Look upon me, according to the fullness of your compassion.

¹⁸And do not turn your face away from your servant, for I am in trouble: heed me quickly.

¹⁹Attend to my soul, and free it. Rescue me, because of my enemies.

²⁰You know my reproach, and my confusion, and my reverence.

²¹All those who trouble me are in your sight; my heart has anticipated reproach and misery. And I sought for one who might grieve together with me, but there was no one, and for one who might console me, and I found no one.

²²And they gave me gall for my food. And in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

²³Let their table be a snare before them, and a retribution, and a scandal.

²⁴Let their eyes be darkened, so that they may not see, and may their back always be crooked.

²⁵Pour out your indignation upon them, and may the fury of your anger take hold of them.

²⁶May their dwelling place be deserted, and may there be no one who dwells in their tabernacles.

²⁷For they persecuted whomever you struck. And they have added to the grief of my wounds.

²⁸Assign an iniquity upon their iniquity, and may they not enter into your justice.

²⁹Delete them from the Book of the Living, and let them not be written down with the just.

³⁰I am poor and sorrowful, but your salvation, O God, has taken me up.

³¹I will praise the name of God with a canticle, and I will magnify him with praise.

³²And it will please God more than a new calf producing horns and hoofs.

³³Let the poor see and rejoice. Seek God, and your soul will live.

³⁴For the Lord has heard the poor, and he has not despised his prisoners.

³⁵Let the heavens and the earth praise him: the sea, and everything that crawls in it.

³⁶For God will save Zion, and the cities of Judah will be built up. And they will dwell there, and they will acquire it by inheritance.

³⁷And the offspring of his servants will possess it; and those who love his name will dwell in it.

Psalms 68

¹Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

²As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

³But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

⁴Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him.

⁵A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

⁶God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

⁷O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:

⁸The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁹Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.

¹⁰Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.

¹¹The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

¹²Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.

¹³Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

¹⁴When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

¹⁵The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.

¹⁶Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever.

¹⁷The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

¹⁸Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

²⁰He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.

²¹But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.

²²The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:

²³That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.

²⁴They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.

²⁵The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

²⁶Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.

²⁷There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.

²⁸Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.

²⁹Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.

³⁰Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.

³¹Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

³²Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:

³³To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.

³⁴Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.

³⁵O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.