"Save me, O God, the swell-ing floods
Break in up-on my soul;
I sink, and sor-rows o'er my head
Like might-y wa-ters roll.
"I cry till all my voice be gone,
In tears I waste the day:
My God, be-hold my long-ing eyes,
And short-en thy de-lay.
"They hate my soul with-out a cause,
And still their num-ber grows
More than the hairs a-round my head,
And might-y are my foes.
"'Twas then I paid that dread-ful debt
That men could nev-er pay,
And gave those hon-ors to thy law
Which sin-ners took a-way."
Thus in the great Mes-si-ah's name,
The roy-al proph-et mourns;
Thus he a-wakes our hearts to grief,
And gives us joy by turns.
"Now shall the saints re-joice, and find
Sal-va-tion in my name;
For I have borne their heav-y load
Of sor-row, pain, and shame.
"Grief, like a gar-ment, clothed me round,
And sack-cloth was my dress,
While I pro-cured for na-ked souls
A robe of righ-teous-ness.
"A-mongst my breth-ren and the Jews
I like a strang-er stood,
And bore their vile re-proach, to bring
The Gen-tiles near to God.
"I came in sin-ful mor-tals' stead,
To do my Fa-ther's will;
Yet when I cleansed my Fa-ther's house,
They scan-dal-ized my zeal.
"My fast-ing and my ho-ly groans
Were made the drun-kard's song;
But God, from his ce-les-tial throne,
Heard my com-plain-ing tongue.
"He saved me from the dread-ful deep,
Nor let my soul be drowned;
He raised and fixed my sink-ing feet
On well-es-tab-lished ground.
"'Twas in a most ac-cept-ed hour
My prayer a-rose on high;
And for my sake my God shall hear
The dy-ing sin-ner's cry.
*Music: Composed 2000 by Mitch Cervinka. Donated to the Public Domain for the unrestricted use of Christ's church.