Refrain:    Hide not your face from your servant, O Lord.

1    Save me, O God,  ♦

for the waters have come up, even to my neck.

2    I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold;  ♦

I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me.

3    I have grown weary with crying; my throat is raw;  ♦

my eyes have failed from looking so long for my God. [R]

4    Those who hate me without any cause  ♦

are more than the hairs of my head;

5    Those who would destroy me are mighty;  ♦

my enemies accuse me falsely:

must I now give back what I never stole?

6    O God, you know my foolishness,  ♦

and my faults are not hidden from you.

7    Let not those who hope in you

be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts;  ♦

let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me,

O God of Israel. [R]

8    For your sake have I suffered reproach;  ♦

shame has covered my face.

9    I have become a stranger to my kindred,  ♦

an alien to my mother’s children.

10  Zeal for your house has eaten me up;  ♦

the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me. [R]

11  I humbled myself with fasting,  ♦

but that was turned to my reproach.

12  I put on sackcloth also  ♦

and became a byword among them.

13  Those who sit at the gate murmur against me,  ♦

and the drunkards make songs about me. [R]

14  But as for me, I make my prayer to you, O Lord;  ♦

at an acceptable time, O God.

15  Answer me, O God, in the abundance of your mercy  ♦

and with your sure salvation.

16  Draw me out of the mire, that I sink not;  ♦

let me be rescued from those who hate me

and out of the deep waters. [R]

17  Let not the water flood drown me,

neither the deep swallow me up;  ♦

let not the Pit shut its mouth upon me.

18  Answer me, Lord, for your loving-kindness is good;  ♦

turn to me in the multitude of your mercies.

19  Hide not your face from your servant;  ♦

be swift to answer me, for I am in trouble. [R]

20  Draw near to my soul and redeem me;  ♦

deliver me because of my enemies.

21  You know my reproach, my shame and my dishonour;  ♦

my adversaries are all in your sight.

22  Reproach has broken my heart; I am full of heaviness.  ♦

I looked for some to have pity, but there was no one,

neither found I any to comfort me.

23  They gave me gall to eat,  ♦

and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink. [R]

24  Let the table before them be a trap  ♦

and their sacred feasts a snare.

25  Let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot see,  ♦

and give them continual trembling in their loins.

26  Pour out your indignation upon them,  ♦

and let the heat of your anger overtake them.

27  Let their camp be desolate,  ♦

and let there be no one to dwell in their tents. [R]

28  For they persecute the one whom you have stricken,  ♦

and increase the sorrows of him whom you have pierced.

29  Lay to their charge guilt upon guilt,  ♦

and let them not receive your vindication.

30  Let them be wiped out of the book of the living  ♦

and not be written among the righteous. [R]

31  As for me, I am poor and in misery;  ♦

your saving help, O God, will lift me up.

32  I will praise the name of God with a song;  ♦

I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.

33  This will please the Lord more than an offering of oxen,  ♦

more than bulls with horns and hooves.

34  The humble shall see and be glad;  ♦

you who seek God, your heart shall live. [R]

35  For the Lord listens to the needy,  ♦

and his own who are imprisoned he does not despise.

36  Let the heavens and the earth praise him,  ♦

the seas and all that moves in them;

37  For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah;  ♦

they shall live there and have it in possession.

38  The children of his servants shall inherit it,  ♦

and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Refrain:    Hide not your face from your servant, O Lord.

Thirsting on the cross,

your Son shared the reproach of the oppressed

and carried the sins of all;

in him, O God, may the despairing find you,

the afflicted gain life

and the whole creation know its true king,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Common Worship: Daily Prayer, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2005 and published by Church House Publishing.