Save me, O God, because the mighty waters
have come up to my neck on every side.
I sink in miry depths without a foothold;
I am engulfed beneath the deep floodtide.
My throat is parched; I’m weary from my shouting;
my eyes fail, looking to my God for aid.
For those who hate and loathe me without reason
are more than all the hairs upon my head.
Without a cause my foes seek to destroy me;
I have to pay back what I did not steal.
But as for you, O God, you know my folly;
my guiltiness from you I can’t conceal.
May those who hope in you, the LORD Almighty,
not be disgraced on my account, O God;
May those who seek your face, O God of Israel,
not suffer shame because of me, O Lord.
For your sake, LORD, I must endure derision;
my face is covered with contempt and shame.
Even my brothers do not recognise me;
to mother’s sons a stranger I became.
Because devotion to your house consumes me,
those who insult you turn their taunts on me;
And when I mourn with tears of grief and fasting,
I must endure their scorn continually.
When I, in grief and mourning, put on sackcloth,
the people laugh at me the whole day long.
The elders at the city gate deride me;
I am the subject of the drunkard’s song.
But, LORD, I pray in this your time of favour:
in your great love deliver me, O God.
Save me from sinking in the miry waters;
deliver me from those who hate me, LORD.
This works well to the tune Lord of the Years which you can hear here.