Psalms 69 · The Lantern

Be my saviour, O God; because the waters have come in, even to my neck.

My feet are deep in the soft earth, where there is no support; I have come into deep waters, the waves are flowing over me.

I am tired with my crying; my throat is burning: my eyes are wasted with waiting for my God.

Those who have hate for me without cause are greater in number than the hairs of my head; those who are against me, falsely desiring my destruction, are very strong; I gave back what I had not taken away.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord.

Thus "there have been multiplied above the hairs of My head they that hate Me gratis." How multiplied? So as that they might add to themselves even one out of the twelve. "There have been multiplied above the hairs of My head they that hate Me for nought." With the hairs of His head He hath compared His enemies.

The honor taken from God through pride and disobedience with respect to a thing to which man was bound is in no way better restored than through humiliation and obedience to that thing to which one was in no way obligated.

O God, you see how foolish I am; and my wrongdoing is clear to you.

Let not those who have hope in you be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of armies: let not those who are waiting for you be made low because of me, O God of Israel.

I have been wounded with sharp words because of you; my face has been covered with shame.

I have become strange to my brothers, and like a man from a far country to my mother's children.

I am on fire with passion for your house; and the hard things which are said about you have come on me.

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

However, we must know that Psalm 68 [LXX], which contains the statement, "The zeal of your house has devoured me," and a little later "They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink," both having been recorded in the Gospels, is placed in the mouth of Christ, indicating no change in the person of the speaker.

"And the disciples remembered that it was written, 'The zeal for your house has eaten me up.' " For by zeal for the house of God the Lord cast those men out of the temple. Brothers, let each and every Christian in the members of Christ be consumed with zeal for God's house. Who is consumed with zeal for God's house?

My bitter weeping, and my going without food, were turned to my shame.

"And I have covered in fasting My Soul, and it became to Me for a reviling" [Psalm 69:10]. His fasting was, when there fell away all they that had believed in Him; because also it was His hunger, that men should believe in Him: because also it was His thirst, when He said to the woman, I thirst, "give Me to drink:" [John 4:7] yea for her faith He was thirsting.

And again David saith, "I have humbled my soul in fasting, and I have become unto them a reproach. I have made sackcloth my clothing, and I have become unto them a byword": and by this he teacheth us that he not only endured the labour of good deeds, but that he also heard reproaches and indignant words because thereof, and endured them patiently; from which thou also mayest le…

The phrase "It was made a reproach against me" follows. The good are always a reproach to the wicked, because the good by no means acquiesce to the crimes of the wicked and withdraw from them and are not joined them by any association.

When I put on the clothing of grief, they said evil of me.

I am a cause of wonder to those in authority; a song to those who are given to strong drink.

But as for me, let my prayer be made to you, O Lord, at a time when you are pleased; O God, give me an answer in your great mercy, for your salvation is certain.

Take me from the grip of the sticky earth, so that I may not go down into it; let me be lifted up from the deep waters.

Let me not be covered by the flowing waters; let not the deep waters go over my head, and let me not be shut up in the underworld.

Give an answer to my words, O Lord; for your mercy is good: be turned to me, because of your great pity.

Let not your face be covered from your servant, for I am in trouble; quickly give me an answer.

Come near to my soul, for its salvation: be my saviour, because of those who are against me.

You have seen my shame, how I was laughed at and made low; my haters are all before you.

My heart is broken by bitter words, I am full of grief; I made a search for some to have pity on me, but there was no one; I had no comforter.

Since the holy God has promised those who hope in him a means of escape from every affliction, we, even if we have been cut off in the midst of a sea of evils and are racked by the mighty waves stirred up against us by the spirits of wickedness, nevertheless endure in Christ who strengthens us, and we have not slackened the intensity of our zeal for the churches, nor do we, as…

"In Your sight are all they that trouble Me" [Psalm 69:20]. Why I have reproach, You know; why confusion, You know; why shame, You know: therefore deliver me because of mine enemies, because You know these things of me, they know not; and thus, because they are themselves in Your sight, not knowing these things, they will not be able to be either confounded or corrected, unless…

They gave me poison for my food; and bitter wine for my drink.

A second time, in fact, let us show that Christ has already come, [as foretold] through the prophets, and has suffered, and has already been received back in the heavens and will come from there according to the predictions prophesied. For, after his advent, we read, according to Daniel, that the city itself had to be destroyed; and we recognize that it has indeed happened.

And they gave Him gall to drink, and this to insult Him, but He would not. But another saith, that having tasted it, He said, "It is finished." And what meaneth, "It is finished?" The prophecy was fulfilled concerning Him.

You have truly and in very many places read something that pertains to the detestable wickedness of your crime and to the voluntary suffering of the Lord.

Let their table before them be for their destruction; let their feasts become a net to take them.

Let their eyes be blind so that they may not see; let their bodies for ever be shaking.

Let your curse come on them; let the heat of your wrath overtake them.

Give their houses to destruction, and let there be no one in their tents.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

"Pour forth upon them Your anger, and let the indignation of Your anger overtake them" [Psalm 69:25], are plain words: but nevertheless, in "overtake them" we perceive them as it were fleeing. But whither are they to flee? Into Heaven? You are there. Into Hell? You are present.

"May his habitation become desolate, and may there be none to dwell in it, and may another take his office." Indeed these verses are clear and plainly set forth by the blessed Peter's interpretation.

Because they are cruel to him against whom your hand is turned; they make bitter the grief of him who is wounded by you.

Let their punishment be increased; let them not come into your righteousness.

Let their names be taken from the book of the living, let them not be numbered with the upright.

But I am poor and full of sorrow; let me be lifted up by your salvation, O Lord.

I will give praise to the name of God with a song; I will give glory to him for what he has done.

Brothers, the Lord of the universe has need of nothing; he requires nothing of anyone, except that confession be made to him. For David, the chosen one, says, "I will confess to the Lord, and it shall please him more than a young bullock with horns and hoofs.

Always indeed, dearly beloved, "the earth is full of the Lord's kindness," and the nature of things itself is the teacher to each one of the faithful in the worship of God, while "heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them" proclaim the goodness and power of their Creator.

So does the man who sees God in all things, who tastes God in them through his three powers. "Pleasing to Him be my theme; I will be glad in the Lord." And elsewhere: "For you make me glad, O Lord, by Your deeds." Again: "I will glorify Him with thanksgiving." In all things there is taste and restoration for the intellective and the affective powers.

This will be more pleasing to the Lord than an ox, or a young ox of full growth.

The poor will see it and be glad: you who are lovers of God, let your hearts have life.

For the ears of the Lord are open to the poor, and he takes thought for his prisoners.

Let the heavens and the earth give praise to him, the seas, and everything moving in them.

For God will be the saviour of Zion, and the builder of the towns of Judah; so that it may be their resting-place and heritage.

The seed of his servants will have their part in it, and there the lovers of his name will have rest.

Psalms69