Psalms 69:18-28

18 Give thou attention to my soul, and deliver thou it; for mine enemies, deliver thou me. (Give thou attention to me, and save me; save thou me from my enemies/save thou me, for I have many enemies.)

19 Thou knowest my reproof, and my despising; and my shame. All that trouble me be in thy sight; (Thou knowest the reproaches, and the despisings, and the shames that I bear. All who trouble me be before thee;)

20 mine heart abode (in) shame, and wretchedness. And I abode him, that was sorry together (with me), and none was; and that should comfort me, and I found not. (shame and wretchedness live in my heart. And I waited for someone, who would be sad together with me, but there was no one; and someone who would comfort me, but I found no one.)

21 And they gave gall into my meat; and in my thirst they gave to me drink with vinegar. (And they gave me gall for my food; and for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.)

22 The board of them be made before them into a snare; and into yieldings, and into cause of stumbling. (May their own table be made into a snare before them; and may their sacred feasts be made into a trap, yea, the reason for their downfall, or ruin.)

23 Their eyes be made dark, that they see not; and ever[more] bow down the back of them. (May their eyes be made dark, or dim, so that they cannot see; and bow down their backs forevermore/and make their backs crooked forevermore.)

24 Shed out thine ire on them; and the strong vengeance of thine ire take them. (Pour out thy anger upon them; and let the fury of thy anger take hold of them.)

25 The habitation of them be made forsaken; and be there none that dwell in the tabernacles of them. (May their homes be made empty; and may there be none of them left to live in their tents.)

26 For they pursued him, whom thou hast smitten; and they added on(to) the sorrow of my wounds. (For they pursued after those whom thou hast struck down; yea, they added to the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded.)

27 Add thou wickedness on(to) the wickedness of them; and enter they not into thy rightwiseness.

28 Be they done away from the book of living men; and be they not written with just men. (Let them be done away from The Book of the Living; and let their names be not written in The List of the Righteous.)

Psalms 69:18-28 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.