Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Psalms 69
Psalm 69: sinking in deep waters, reproach for God's sake, gall and vinegar
General context
The speaker asks God to save him, for the waters have come in to his soul; he sinks in deep mire, floods overflow him, he is weary of crying, his throat is dry and his eyes fail waiting for God. Those who hate him without cause outnumber the hairs of his head, and he restored what he did not take. God knows his foolishness and sins. He asks that those who wait on the Lord God of hosts not be ashamed for his sake, since he has borne reproach for God's sake, become a stranger to his brethren, been eaten up by zeal for God's house and taken on the reproaches of those who reproached God; his weeping, fasting and sackcloth made him a proverb, the talk of the gate and the song of drunkards. He prays in an acceptable time to be delivered from the mire, the deep waters and the pit, and asks the Lord to hear, draw near and redeem him. Reproach has broken his heart, he found no pity or comforters, and they gave him gall for food and vinegar for his thirst. He asks that their table become a snare, their eyes be darkened, God's indignation be poured on them, their habitation be desolate, and that they be blotted out of the book of the living, because they persecute the one God has smitten. Poor and sorrowful, he asks God's salvation to set him up on high; he will praise God's name with a song, which will please the Lord better than an ox or bullock. The humble will see and be glad, for the Lord hears the poor. Heaven, earth and seas are called to praise him, for God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, and the seed of his servants will inherit them.
Cited passages: Psalms 69:1, Psalms 69:2, Psalms 69:3, Psalms 69:4, Psalms 69:5, Psalms 69:6, Psalms 69:7, Psalms 69:8, Psalms 69:9, Psalms 69:11, Psalms 69:12, Psalms 69:13, Psalms 69:15, Psalms 69:17, Psalms 69:18, Psalms 69:20, Psalms 69:21, Psalms 69:22, Psalms 69:23, Psalms 69:25, Psalms 69:26, Psalms 69:28, Psalms 69:29, Psalms 69:31, Psalms 69:33, Psalms 69:35, Psalms 69:36
Psalms 69 (KJV)
1Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
2I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
5O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.
6Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
7Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
8I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
10When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
11I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.
12They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.
13But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
14Deliver 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.
15Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
17And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
18Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
19Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.
20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
23Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
24Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
25Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
26For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
27Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.
28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
29But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
33For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
34Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.
35For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.
36The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
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Historical context
The text as printed here carries no heading; verse 1 opens with "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul", so this source names no author, occasion or musical direction. The speaker is a single "I" addressing God throughout; "Zion" and "the cities of Judah" in verse 35 are the only places named, and the enemies are unnamed. The waters, mire and pit are images of his state, and "then I restored that which I took not away" is stated without saying what was taken; weeping, fasting and sackcloth are the other acts he reports. He both admits "my foolishness" and "my sins" and says he suffers "for thy sake"; the text holds both without explaining the relation. The gall and vinegar of verse 21 are given as what "they" did, with no scene attached. Several lines are quoted in the New Testament. Verse 4 in John: "They hated me without a cause". Verse 9 in John, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up", and in Romans, "The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me". Verses 22 and 23 in Romans, "Let their table be made a snare, and a trap" and "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see". Verse 25 in Acts, where it is introduced as "written in the book of Psalms": "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein". There is no Selah in this psalm.
Cited passages: Psalms 69:1, Psalms 69:35, Psalms 69:4, Psalms 69:5, Psalms 69:7, Psalms 69:21, John 15:25, John 2:17, Romans 15:3, Romans 11:9, Romans 11:10, Acts 1:20
Literary context
Water frames the complaint. The psalm opens with waters at the soul and mire with "no standing", and the central petition returns to the same images in reverse, "Deliver me out of the mire", "let not the waterflood overflow me", "let not the pit shut her mouth". Between those two water passages the suffering is social: a stranger to brothers, a proverb, the talk of the gate, "the song of the drunkards". The word "reproach" recurs, borne for God's sake, fallen on him from God's reproachers, breaking his heart. The absence of comfort is stated twice in one verse, "there was none" and "I found none", and is followed at once by what was given instead, gall and vinegar. The curses of verses 22 to 28 answer in kind: a table turned to a snare after the gall and vinegar given as meat, darkened eyes, a desolate habitation, a blotted book. The last movement reverses the opening: the one who sank asks to be set "up on high", the throat dried by crying will sing, and the song is weighed against an ox and found better. The close widens from one man to heaven, earth and seas and to Zion and Judah, ending on inheritance and dwelling.
Cited passages: Psalms 69:2, Psalms 69:14, Psalms 69:12, Psalms 69:9, Psalms 69:20, Psalms 69:22, Psalms 69:28, Psalms 69:29, Psalms 69:30, Psalms 69:34
Key moments
- Waters unto the soul (Psalms 69:1). The speaker asks to be saved as the waters come in to his soul.
- Hated without a cause (Psalms 69:4). Those who hate him wrongfully outnumber the hairs of his head.
- Zeal of thine house (Psalms 69:9). Zeal for God's house has eaten him up and God's reproachers' reproaches fall on him.
- The song of the drunkards (Psalms 69:12). Those in the gate speak against him and drunkards sing about him.
- Gall and vinegar (Psalms 69:21). With no comforters found, they give him gall to eat and vinegar to drink.
- Blotted out of the book (Psalms 69:28). He asks that his persecutors be blotted from the book of the living.
- God will save Zion (Psalms 69:35). The psalm ends with God saving Zion and building the cities of Judah.
For reflection
The speaker says God knows his foolishness and his sins, and in the next breath that he bears reproach for God's sake; how does the poem let both be true of the same man without deciding which explains his suffering?
