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Psalms 69:11 World English Bible (WEB)

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

Cross Reference

1 Kings 9:7 WEB

then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

Job 17:6 WEB

"But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

Jeremiah 24:9 WEB

I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

Deuteronomy 28:37 WEB

You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh shall lead you away.

Psalms 35:13-14 WEB

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.

Psalms 44:13-14 WEB

You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples.

Isaiah 20:2 WEB

at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put your shoe from off your foot. He did so, walking naked and barefoot.

Isaiah 22:12 WEB

In that day did the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

Joel 1:8 WEB

Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!

Joel 1:13 WEB

Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, For the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God's house.

Commentary on Psalms 69 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


PSALM 69

Ps 69:1-36. Upon Shoshannim—(See on Ps 45:1, title). Mingling the language of prayer and complaint, the sufferer, whose condition is here set forth, pleads for God's help as one suffering in His cause, implores the divine retribution on his malicious enemies, and, viewing his deliverance as sure, promises praise by himself, and others, to whom God will extend like blessings. This Psalm is referred to seven times in the New Testament as prophetical of Christ and the gospel times. Although the character in which the Psalmist appears to some in Ps 69:5 is that of a sinner, yet his condition as a sufferer innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the composition, and it may be therefore regarded throughout, as the twenty-second, as typically expressive of the feelings of our Saviour in the flesh.

1, 2. (Compare Ps 40:2).

come in unto my soul—literally, "come even to my soul," endanger my life by drowning (Jon 2:5).

3. (Compare Ps 6:6).

mine eyes fail—in watching (Ps 119:82).

4. hate me, &c.—(Compare Joh 15:25). On the number and power of his enemies (compare Ps 40:12).

then I restored … away—that is, he suffered wrongfully under the imputation of robbery.

5. This may be regarded as an appeal, vindicating his innocence, as if he had said, "If sinful, thou knowest," &c. Though David's condition as a sufferer may typify Christ's, without requiring that a parallel be found in character.

6. for my sake—literally, "in me," in my confusion and shame.

7-12. This plea contemplates his relation to God as a sufferer in His cause. Reproach, domestic estrangement (Mr 3:21; Joh 7:5), exhaustion in God's service (Joh 2:17), revilings and taunts of base men were the sufferings.

10. wept (and chastened) my soul—literally, "wept away my soul," a strongly figurative description of deep grief.

12. sit in the gate—public place (Pr 31:31).

13-15. With increasing reliance on God, he prays for help, describing his distress in the figures of Ps 69:1, 2.

16-18. These earnest terms are often used, and the address to God, as indifferent or averse, is found in Ps 3:7; 22:24; 27:9, &c.

19, 20. Calling God to witness his distress, he presents its aggravation produced by the want of sympathizing friends (compare Isa 63:5; Mr 14:50).

21. Instead of such, his enemies increase his pain by giving him most distasteful food and drink. The Psalmist may have thus described by figure what Christ found in reality (compare Joh 19:29, 30).

22, 23. With unimportant verbal changes, this language is used by Paul to describe the rejection of the Jews who refused to receive the Saviour (Ro 11:9, 10). The purport of the figures used is that blessings shall become curses, the "table" of joy (as one of food) a "snare," their

welfare—literally, "peaceful condition," or security, a "trap." Darkened eyes and failing strength complete the picture of the ruin falling on them under the invoked retribution.

23. continually to shake—literally, "to swerve" or bend in weakness.

24, 25. An utter desolation awaits them. They will not only be driven from their homes, but their homes—or, literally, "palaces," indicative of wealth—shall be desolate (compare Mt 23:38).

26. Though smitten of God (Isa 53:4), men were not less guilty in persecuting the sufferer (Ac 2:23).

talk to the grief—in respect to, about it, implying derision and taunts.

wounded—or, literally, "mortally wounded."

27, 28. iniquity—or, "punishment of iniquity" (Ps 40:12).

come … righteousness—partake of its benefits.

28. book of the living—or "life," with the next clause, a figurative mode of representing those saved, as having their names in a register (compare Ex 32:32; Isa 4:3).

29. poor and sorrowful—the afflicted pious, often denoted by such terms (compare Ps 10:17; 12:5).

set me … high—out of danger.

30, 31. Spiritual are better than mere material offerings (Ps 40:6; 50:8); hence a promise of the former, and rather contemptuous terms are used of the latter.

32, 33. Others shall rejoice. "Humble" and poor, as in Ps 69:29.

your heart, &c.—address to such (compare Ps 22:26).

33. prisoners—peculiarly liable to be despised.

34-36. The call on the universe for praise is well sustained by the prediction of the perpetual and extended blessings which shall come upon the covenant-people of God. Though, as usual, the imagery is taken from terms used of Palestine, the whole tenor of the context indicates that the spiritual privileges and blessings of the Church are meant.