Psalms 80:5

5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

Psalms 80:5 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 80:5

Thou feedest them with the bread of tears
With tears instead of bread, having none to eat; or their bread is mingled with their tears, "dipped" therein, as the Targum; such was their constant grief, and the occasion of it, that they could not cease from tears while they were eating their meals, and so ate them with them F14:

and givest them tears to drink in great measure;
or the wine of tears "three fold", as the Targum. Jarchi interprets it of the captivity of Babylon, which was the third part of the two hundred and ten years of Israel's being in Egypt; which exposition, he says, he learned from R. Moses Hadarsan; but he observes, that some interpret it of the kingdom of Grecia, which was the third distress: and so Kimchi and Arama explain it of the third captivity; but Menachem, as Jarchi says, takes "shalish" to be the name of a drinking vessel, and so does Aben Ezra; the same it may be which the Latins call a "triental", the third part of a pint; unless the Hebrew measure, the "seah", which was the third part of an "ephah", is meant; it is translated a "measure" in ( Isaiah 40:12 ) and seems to design a large one, and so our version interprets it; compare with this ( Isaiah 30:20 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F14 "----lachrymisque suis jejunia pavit", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 4. Fab. 6.

Psalms 80:5 In-Context

3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.
6 Thou makest us a strife to our neighbors: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
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