Psalms 69 · The Lantern

For the Leader; upon Shoshannim. A Psalm of David.

Save me, O G-d; for the waters are come in even unto the soul.

I am sunk in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, and the flood overwhelmeth me.

I am weary of my crying; my throat is dried; mine eyes fail while I wait for my G-d.

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.

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they that would cut me off, being mine enemies wrongfully, are many; should I restore that which I took not away?

O G-d, Thou knowest my folly; and my trespasses are not hid from Thee.

Let not them that wait for Thee be ashamed through me, O L-rd GOD of hosts; let not those that seek Thee be brought to confusion through me, O G-d of Israel.

Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach; confusion hath covered my face.

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

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?

Because zeal for Thy house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach Thee are fallen upon me.

"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.

And I wept with my soul with fasting, and that became unto me a reproach.

I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a byword unto them.

They that sit in the gate talk of me; and I am the song of the drunkards.

But as for me, let my prayer be unto Thee, O HaShem, in an acceptable time; O G-d, in the abundance of Thy mercy, answer me with the truth of Thy salvation.

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.

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

Answer me, O HaShem, for Thy mercy is good; according to the multitude of Thy compassions turn Thou unto me.

And hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am in distress; answer me speedily.

Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it; ransom me because of mine enemies.

Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame, and my confusion; mine adversaries are all before Thee.

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…

Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am sore sick; and I looked for some to show compassion, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

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.

Yea, they put poison into my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Let their table before them become a snare; and when they are in peace, let it become a trap.

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

Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let the fierceness of Thine anger overtake them.

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.

Let their encampment be desolate; let none dwell in their tents.

For they persecute him whom Thou hast smitten; and they tell of the pain of those whom Thou hast wounded.

Add iniquity unto their iniquity; and let them not come into Thy righteousness.

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

But I am afflicted and in pain; let Thy salvation, O G-d, set me up on high.

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.

I will praise the name of G-d with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

And it shall please HaShem better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

The humble shall see it, and be glad; ye that seek after G-d, let your heart revive.

For HaShem hearkeneth unto the needy, and despiseth not His prisoners.

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

For G-d will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah; and they shall abide there, and have it in possession.

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

Psalms69