Psalms 69:3-13

3 I am exhausted from crying, my throat is dry and sore, my eyes are worn out with looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me for no reason outnumber the hairs on my head. My persecutors are powerful, my enemies accuse me falsely. Am I expected to return things I didn't steal?

5 God, you know how foolish I am; my guilt is not hidden from you.

6 Let those who put their hope in you, Adonai ELOHIM-Tzva'ot, not be put to shame through me; let those who are seeking you, God of Isra'el, not be disgraced through me.

7 For your sake I suffer insults, shame covers my face.

8 I am estranged from my brothers, an alien to my mother's children,

9 because zeal for your house is eating me up, and on me are falling the insults of those insulting you.

10 I weep bitterly, and I fast, but that too occasions insults.

11 I clothe myself with sackcloth and become an object of scorn, 856

12 the gossip of those sitting by the town gate, the theme of drunkards' songs.

13 As for me, ADONAI, let my prayer to you come at an acceptable time; In your great grace, God, answer me with the truth of your salvation.

Psalms 69:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, [A Psalm] of David. Of the word "shoshannim," See Gill on "Ps 45:1," title. The Targum renders it, "concerning the removal of the sanhedrim;" which was about the time of Christ's death. The Talmudists {t} say, that forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, they removed from the paved chamber, &c. But it can hardly be thought that David prophesied of this affair; nor of the captivity of the people of Israel, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Arama, and R. Obadiah interpret it: and so Jarchi takes the word "shoshannim" to signify lilies, and applies it to the Israelites, who are as a lily among thorns. But not a body of people, but a single person, is spoken of, and in sorrowful and suffering circumstances; and, if the Jews were not blind, they might see that they are the enemies of the person designed, and the evil men from whom he suffered so much. And indeed what is said of him cannot be said of them, nor of any other person whatever but the Messiah: and that the psalm belongs to Christ, and to the times of the Gospel, is abundantly evident from the citations out of it in the New Testament; as

Psalm 69:4 in John 15:25;
Psalm 69:9 in John 2:17;
Psalm 69:21 in Matthew 27:34;
Psalm 69:22 in Romans 11:9;
Psalm 69:25 in Acts 1:16.

The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is, "'a psalm' of David, according to the letter, when Shemuah (Sheba), the son of Bichri, blew a trumpet, and the people ceased from following after him (David); but the prophecy is said concerning those things which the Messiah suffered, and concerning the rejection of the Jews." And Aben Ezra interprets Psalm 69:36 of the days of David, or of the days of the Messiah.

{t} T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 8. 2. & Roshhashanah, fol. 31. 1, 2.