Discovery BoxPsalms 69:4-14 
Context69:4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, 1 outnumber me. 2
They make me repay what I did not steal! 3
69:5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins; 4
my guilt is not hidden from you. 5
69:6 Let none who rely on you be disgraced because of me,
O sovereign Lord and king! 6
Let none who seek you be ashamed because of me,
O God of Israel!
69:7 For I suffer 7 humiliation for your sake 8
and am thoroughly disgraced. 9
69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;
they act as if I were a foreigner. 10
69:9 Certainly 11 zeal for 12 your house 13 consumes me;
I endure the insults of those who insult you. 14
69:10 I weep and refrain from eating food, 15
which causes others to insult me. 16
69:11 I wear sackcloth
and they ridicule me. 17
69:12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me;
drunkards mock me in their songs. 18
69:13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! 19
O God, because of your great loyal love,
answer me with your faithful deliverance! 20
69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink!
Deliver me 21 from those who hate me,
from the deep water!
1 tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Pss 35:19; 38:19).
2 tn The Hebrew verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority; note the parallel verb רָבַב (ravav, “be many”).
3 tn Heb “that which I did not steal, then I restore.” Apparently אָז (’az, “then”) is used here to emphasize the verb that follows.
sn They make me repay what I did not steal. The psalmist’s enemies falsely accuse him and hold him accountable for alleged crimes he did not even commit.
4 tn Heb “you know my foolishness.”
5 sn The psalmist is the first to admit that he is not perfect. But even so, he is innocent of the allegations which his enemies bring against him (v. 5b). God, who is aware of his foolish sins and guilt, can testify to the truth of his claim.
6 tn Heb “O Master,
7 tn Heb “carry, bear.”
8 tn Heb “on account of you.”
9 tn Heb “and shame covers my face.”
10 tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”
11 tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.
12 tn Or “devotion to.”
13 sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.
14 tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”
sn Jn 2:17 applies the first half of this verse to Jesus’ ministry in the context of John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple.
15 sn Fasting was a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.
16 tn Heb “and it becomes insults to me.”
17 tn Heb “and I am an object of ridicule to them.”
18 tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”
19 tn Heb “as for me, [may] my prayer be to you, O
20 tn Heb “O God, in the abundance of your loyal love, answer me in the faithfulness of your deliverance.”
21 tn Heb “let me be delivered.”
