Psalm 69 - Easy To Read Version

¹ God, save me from all my troubles!\par The water has risen to my mouth.\par

² There is nothing to stand on.\par I am sinking down, down into the mud.\par I am in deep water.\par And the waves are crashing around me.\par I am about to drown.\par

³ I am getting weak from calling for help.\par My throat is hurting.\par I have waited and looked for help from you\par until my eyes are hurting.\par

⁴ I have more enemies\par than the hairs on my head.\par They hate me for no reason.\par They try hard to destroy me.\par My enemies tell lies about me.\par They lied and said I stole things.\par And then they forced me to pay\par for things I did not steal.\par

⁵ God, you know I did nothing wrong.\par I can’t hide my sins from you.\par

⁶ My Master, Lord All-Powerful, don’t let your followers be ashamed of me.\par God of Israel, don’t let your worshipers be embarrassed because of me.\par

⁷ My face is covered with shame.\par I carry this shame for you.\par

⁸ My brothers treat me like a stranger.\par My mother’s sons treat me like a foreigner.\par

⁹ My strong feelings {\cf2\super [401]} for your temple are destroying me.\par I get the insults from people\par who make fun of you.\par

¹⁰ I cry and fast, {\cf2\super [402]} \par and they make fun of me for it.\par

¹¹ I wear rough cloth to show my sadness,\par and people tell jokes about me.\par

¹² They talk about me in public places.\par The beer drinkers make up songs about me.\par

¹³ As for me, this is my prayer to you Lord:\par I want you to accept me!\par God, I want you to answer me with love.\par I know I can trust you to save me.\par

¹⁴ Pull me from the mud.\par Don’t let me sink down into the mud.\par Save me from the people who hate me.\par Save me from this deep water.\par

¹⁵ Don’t let the waves drown me.\par Don’t let the deep hole swallow me.\par Don’t let the grave close its mouth on me.\par

¹⁶ Lord, your love is good.\par Answer me with all your love.\par With all your kindness,\par turn to me and help me!\par

¹⁷ Don’t turn away from your servant.\par I am in trouble!\par Hurry, help me!\par

¹⁸ Come save my soul.\par Rescue me from my enemies.\par

¹⁹ You know my shame.\par You know my enemies humiliated me.\par You saw them do those things to me.\par

²⁰ The shame has crushed me!\par I am about to die from shame.\par I waited for sympathy,\par but none could be found.\par I waited for some person to comfort me,\par but no person came.\par

²¹ They gave me poison, not food.\par They gave me vinegar, not wine.\par

²² Their tables are covered with food.\par They have such big fellowship meals.\par I hope those meals destroy them.\par

²³ I hope they become blind\par and their backs become weak.\par

²⁴ Let them feel all of your anger.\par

²⁵ Make their homes empty.\par Don’t let anyone live there.\par

²⁶ Punish them, and they will run away.\par Then they really will have pains\par and wounds to talk about.\par

²⁷ Punish them for the bad things they did.\par Don’t show them how good you can be.\par

²⁸ Erase their names from the Book of Life.\par Don’t write their names in the book\par with the names of the good people.\par

²⁹ I am sad and hurting.\par God, lift me up. Save me!\par

³⁰ I will praise God’s name in song.\par I will praise him with a song\par of thanks.\par

³¹ This will make God happy!\par This will be better than killing a bull and offering the whole animal as a sacrifice. {\cf2\super [403]} \par

³² Poor people, you came to worship God.\par You will be happy to know these things.\par

³³ The Lord listens to poor, helpless people.\par The Lord still likes people in prison.\par

³⁴ Praise God, heaven and earth!\par Sea and everything in it, praise the Lord!\par

³⁵ The Lord will save Zion. {\cf2\super [404]} \par The Lord will rebuild the cities of Judah.\par The people who own the land\par will live there again!\par

³⁶ The descendants {\cf2\super [405]} of his servants\par will get that land.\par The people who love his name\par will live there.\par