Save Me, God

Save me, God,for the waters have come up to my neck!

Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

The psalm opens with a cry for rescue and a picture of drowning. The waters have reached the neck, so there is no time for a long preface. The KJV reads the waters are come in unto my soul, which places the danger at the soul itself.

Also read Isaiah 28:17, Isaiah 43:2, Psalm 32:6, Revelation 12:15-16

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

Also read Matthew 26:37-38, Matthew 7:25, Psalm 40:2, Jeremiah 38:6

I am weary with my crying.My throat is dry.My eyes fail looking for my God.

I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

The speaker is exhausted from crying. His throat is dry and his eyes fail from looking for God. The verse describes prayer that has gone on a long time without an answer.

Also read Psalm 69:21, Isaiah 38:14, Psalm 22:2, Psalm 13:1-3

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

Those who hate him without a cause outnumber the hairs of his head. He is even made to restore what he did not take. The King James Version reads "then I restored that which I took not away".

Also read Psalm 35:19, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Peter 2:24, Psalm 35:11-12

God, you know my foolishness.My sins aren’t hidden from you.

O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

The speaker does not claim to be blameless. He tells God that his foolishness and his sins are not hidden from him. The psalm holds his own faults and his enemies' injustice side by side.

Also read Jeremiah 16:17, Psalm 38:5, Psalm 44:20-21, Psalm 19:12

Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord GOD of Armies.Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

Also read Luke 24:19-21, Isaiah 49:23, 2 Samuel 23:3, Acts 4:7

Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.Shame has covered my face.

Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

Also read Hebrews 12:2, Psalm 22:6-8, Matthew 27:38-44, Isaiah 53:3

I have become a stranger to my brothers,an alien to my mother’s children.

I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.

Also read John 1:11, Psalm 31:11, Matthew 26:48-50, Matthew 26:56

For the zeal of your house consumes me.The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Also read Romans 15:3, Mark 11:15-17, 1 Chronicles 29:3, Psalm 119:139

When I wept and I fasted,that was to my reproach.

When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

Even his weeping and fasting are turned against him. What he did in grief or devotion becomes one more reason for others to reproach him.

Also read Psalm 35:13, Psalm 102:8-9, Luke 7:33-34, Psalm 109:24-25

When I made sackcloth my clothing,I became a byword to them.

I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

Also read 1 Kings 9:7, Isaiah 20:2, Isaiah 22:12, Psalm 44:13-14

Those who sit in the gate talk about me.I am the song of the drunkards.

They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

Also read Deuteronomy 16:18, Psalm 35:15-16, Mark 15:17-19, Daniel 5:23

But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time.God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

The psalm turns to prayer: as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time. He appeals to the abundance of God's loving kindness and the truth of his salvation.

Also read Esther 5:2, Micah 7:20, John 17:1-26, Romans 15:8-9

Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Also read Lamentations 3:55, Mark 15:34, Psalm 25:18-19, Jeremiah 38:6-13

Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,neither let the deep swallow me up.Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

Also read Matthew 12:40, Psalm 88:4-6, Psalm 16:10, Revelation 12:15-16

Answer me, LORD, for your loving kindness is good.According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

He asks to be answered because God's loving kindness is good. The appeal rests on the multitude of God's tender mercies, not on the speaker's own record.

Also read Psalm 25:16, Psalm 63:3, Psalm 106:45, Psalm 86:15-16

Don’t hide your face from your servant,for I am in distress.Answer me speedily!

And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

Also read Psalm 102:2, Psalm 40:13, Psalm 44:24, Psalm 66:14

Draw near to my soul and redeem it.Ransom me because of my enemies.

Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

Also read Psalm 22:1, Psalm 10:1, Psalm 111:9, Deuteronomy 32:27

You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.My adversaries are all before you.

Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

Also read Isaiah 53:3, Psalm 22:6-7, Psalm 38:9, Hebrews 12:2

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;for comforters, but I found none.

Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

Reproach has broken his heart and he is full of heaviness. He looked for someone to take pity and found none, and for comforters and found none. The verse describes grief with no one to share it.

Also read Hebrews 11:36, Isaiah 63:5, Mark 14:37, 2 Timothy 4:16-17

They also gave me poison for my food.In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Also read Matthew 27:48, Deuteronomy 29:18, Jeremiah 9:15, Luke 23:36

Let their table before them become a snare.May it become a retribution and a trap.

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

Also read Proverbs 1:32, Malachi 2:2, Romans 11:8-10, Isaiah 8:14-15

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see.Let their backs be continually bent.

Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

Also read Acts 28:26-27, John 12:39-40, Isaiah 29:9-10, Isaiah 21:3-4

Pour out your indignation on them.Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

Also read Matthew 23:35-37, Leviticus 26:14-46, Deuteronomy 32:20-26, Hosea 5:10

Let their habitation be desolate.Let no one dwell in their tents.

Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

This is part of the psalm's curse on the enemies: let their home be desolate and let no one live in their tents. It belongs to a run of requests for judgment that begins in verse 22.

Also read Isaiah 5:1, 1 Kings 9:8, Luke 13:35, Isaiah 6:11

For they persecute him whom you have wounded.They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

Also read 1 Thessalonians 2:15, Job 19:21-22, Isaiah 53:10, Zechariah 1:15

Charge them with crime upon crime.Don’t let them come into your righteousness.

Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

Also read Revelation 22:10-11, Psalm 81:12, Psalm 24:5, Matthew 21:19

Let them be blotted out of the book of life,and not be written with the righteous.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

The strongest curse in the psalm asks that the enemies be blotted out of the book of life and not be written with the righteous. The King James Version has "the book of the living". After this the psalm turns back to prayer.

Also read Hosea 1:9, Revelation 13:8, Hebrews 12:23, Exodus 32:32-33

But I am in pain and distress.Let your salvation, God, protect me.

But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

The tone changes again. But I am in pain and distress, the speaker says, and asks God's salvation to protect him. The curses give way to his own need.

Also read Philippians 2:9-11, Psalm 59:1, Psalm 40:17, 2 Corinthians 8:9

I will praise the name of God with a song,and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Here the praise begins. He will praise the name of God with a song and magnify him with thanksgiving. The King James Version has the same wording.

Also read Psalm 40:1-3, Psalm 118:21, Psalm 34:3, Psalm 28:7

It will please the LORD better than an ox,or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

Also read Psalm 50:23, Hosea 14:2, 1 Peter 2:5, Ephesians 5:19-20

The humble have seen it, and are glad.You who seek after God, let your heart live.

The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

The humble see what God has done and are glad. Those who seek God are told: let your heart live.

Also read John 16:22, Psalm 34:2, Psalm 22:29, Isaiah 55:6-7

For the LORD hears the needy,and doesn’t despise his captive people.

For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

This is the reason for the praise: the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people. The speaker's own cry for help becomes a reason for others to hope.

Also read Revelation 2:10, Psalm 72:12-14, Luke 4:18, Psalm 102:20

Let heaven and earth praise him;the seas, and everything that moves therein!

Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.

Also read Psalm 148:1-14, Isaiah 44:22-23, Isaiah 55:12, Revelation 7:11-13

For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.They shall settle there, and own it.

For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

Also read Revelation 14:1, Psalm 102:13, Obadiah 1:17, Isaiah 14:32

The children also of his servants shall inherit it.Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Also read Psalm 90:16-17, James 2:5, Isaiah 44:3-4, Psalm 91:14