Psalm 69 Poem by Isaac Watts

Christ’s Sufferings and Zeal

‘Twas for our sake, eternal God,
Thy Son sustain’d that heavy load
Of base reproach and sore disgrace,
And shame defil’d his sacred face.

The Jews, his brethren and his kin,
Abus’d him when he check’d their sin;
While he fulfill’d thy holy laws,
They hate him, but without a cause.

Zeal for the temple of his God
Consum’d his life, expos’d his blood;
Reproaches at thy glory thrown
He felt, and mourn’d them as his own.

His friends forsook, his followers fled,
While foes and arms surround his head;
They nail him to the shameful tree;
There hung my Lord, who died for me.

But God his Father heard his cry;
Rais’d from the dead, he reigns on high;
The nations learn his righteousness,
And humble sinners taste his grace.