“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.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 69:14 Mean?
David prays from the bottom: deliver me out of the mire. Don't let me sink. Save me from those who hate me. Pull me out of the deep waters. The imagery is drowning — David is submerged, sinking, and the bottom hasn't arrived yet. The mire is pulling him down. The water is rising. The enemies are pressing.
The "mire" (tiyt — mud, clay, slime) is the substance that swallows: you step in and it pulls you deeper. It doesn't just cover you. It consumes you. The mire is active — it grips, it sucks, it holds. David isn't just standing in mud. He's being swallowed by it.
"Let me not sink" — the present danger. David isn't asking to be pulled out in the future. He's asking not to go deeper right now. The immediate prayer is: stop the descent. Before rescue comes extraction, stabilization is needed. Don't let the sinking continue while I wait for the lifting.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where are you in the sinking — ankle-deep, waist-deep, or neck-deep — and which prayer do you need: stabilize or extract?
- 2.Does the distinction between 'don't let me sink' (stop the descent) and 'deliver me' (complete rescue) describe your current need?
- 3.How are the mire (sucking from below), deep waters (rising from the sides), and enemies (pressing from around) all working together in your situation?
- 4.Can you identify the 'mire' specifically — what substance is pulling you down — and have you asked God to address it by name?
Devotional
I'm in the mire. I'm sinking. Don't let me go deeper. Pull me out.
David is drowning in slow motion. The mire is pulling him down — not with the speed of water but with the grip of mud. You don't crash into mire. You step in and it takes you. Slowly. Inches at a time. And each inch is harder to reverse than the last.
"Deliver me out of the mire" — rescue from what's already swallowing me. The mud is up to my waist. My chest. My neck. The sinking has been happening. The prayer is for extraction from a descent already in progress.
"Let me not sink" — this is the immediate request. Before the full rescue, stop the descent. Stabilize me where I am. Don't let me go deeper while I wait for the pulling out. The sinking is the active danger. The extraction is the eventual goal. But right now: just don't let me go lower.
"Out of the deep waters" — the mire and the water are twin images of being overwhelmed. One grips from below (the mud). The other rises from the sides (the deep waters). Between the two, David is both sinking and drowning. Below: the sucking mud. Around: the rising flood. The attack is from every direction.
The enemies who hate him are in the same verse as the mire and the water — because the enemies are the mire and the water. The hatred of his opponents is the substance he's drowning in. The hostility is the mud that's pulling him under.
If you're sinking — if the mud is up to your neck and the water is rising and the hatred is pressing — David's prayer is your prayer. Two requests: don't let me sink further (stabilize). And pull me out (rescue). The first request is for right now. The second is for as soon as You can.
God is the only one who pulls people out of mire. The mud doesn't release its grip for human strength. You need divine extraction.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink,.... In which he was sinking, Psa 69:2; and accordingly he was delivered…
Deliver me out of the mire - Out of my troubles and calamities. See Psa 69:1-2. And let me not sink - As in, mire. Let…
David had been speaking before of the spiteful reproaches which his enemies cast upon him; here he adds, But, as for me,…
In his prayer he repeats the words which he had previously used to describe his plight (Psa 69:69; Psa 69:69). It is…
Cross References
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