1To the choirmaster. According to Shoshannim. Of David.
2Save me (yasha), O God, for the waters have come up to the soul (nephesh).
3I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into the depths of waters, and the flood has swept over me.
4I am weary in my calling; my throat is parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.
5More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, my enemies wrongfully; what I did not rob, then must I restore.
6O God, you know my folly, and my guilt is not hidden from you.
7Let not those who wait for you be ashamed through me, my Lord (Adonai) YHWH of hosts; let not those who seek you be humiliated through me, O God of Israel.
8For your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.
9I have become a stranger to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.
10For the zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me.
11And I wept in the fasting of my soul (nephesh), and it became reproaches to me.
12And I made my clothing sackcloth, and I became a byword to them.
13Those who sit at the gate talk about me, and I am the song of the drinkers of strong drink.
14But as for me, my prayer is to you, YHWH, in a time of favor; O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in the truth of your salvation.
15Deliver me from the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and from the depths of waters.
16Let not the flood of waters sweep over me, and let not the deep swallow me, and let not the pit shut its mouth over me.
17Answer me, YHWH, for your steadfast love is good; according to the abundance of your compassions turn to me.
18And do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress; hasten, answer me.
19Draw near to my soul (nephesh), redeem it; because of my enemies ransom me.
20You know my reproach, and my shame, and my humiliation; all my adversaries are before you.
21Reproach has broken my heart, and I am sick; and I waited for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
22And they put poison in my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
23Let their table before them become a snare, and for those at peace, a trap.
24Let their eyes be darkened from seeing, and make their loins continually to shake.
25Pour out upon them your indignation, and let the burning of your anger overtake them.
26Let their encampment become desolate; in their tents let there be no dweller.
27For they pursue him whom you have struck, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
28Add iniquity upon their iniquity, and let them not come into your righteousness.
29Let them be blotted out from the book of the living (chai), and with the righteous let them not be written.
30But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation (yeshuah), O God, set me on high.
31I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
32And it will please YHWH more than an ox, a bull having horns and hoofs.
33The humble have seen it, let them be glad; you who seek God, let your heart revive.
34For YHWH hears the needy, and His prisoners He does not despise.
35Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that moves in them.
36For God will save (yasha) Zion, and will build the cities of Judah; and they will dwell there and possess it.
37And the seed of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will dwell in it.