Psalms 69:10
in Psalms 69I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, That was to my reproach.
KJV
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
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This verse in Psalms 69
Commentary
9 notes on this verseWhen I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. Having resolved to hate him, everything he did was made a fresh reason for reviling. If he ate and drank as others, he was a man gluttonous and a winebibber; if he wept himself away and wore himself out with fasting, then he had a devil and was mad. Nothing is more cruel than prejudice, its eye colours all with the medium through which it looks, and its tongue rails at all indiscriminately.
This site's exposition
I wept and fasted
on Psalms 69:10-12
Weeping and fasting brought him reproach. Sackcloth made him a joke to them, and the men who sit at the gate mocked him while drunkards sang about him. Clarke marks the climb across the three verses, from private grief to public dress to open ridicule.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"And I have covered in fasting My Soul, and it became to Me for a reviling" [Psalm 69:10]. His fasting was, when there fell away all they that had believed in Him; because also it was His hunger, that men should believe in Him: because also it was His thirst, when He said to the woman, I thirst, "give Me to drink:" [John 4:7] yea for her faith He was thirsting. And from the Cross when He was saying, "I thirst," [John 19:28] He was seeking the faith of them for whom He had said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [Luke 23:34] But what did those men give to drink to Him thirsty? Vinegar. Vinegar is also called old. With reason of the old man they gave to drink, because they willed not to be new. Why willed they not to become new? Because to the title of this Psalm whereon is written, "For them that shall be changed," they belonged not. Therefore, "I have covered in fasting My Soul." Lastly, He put from Him even the gall which they offered: He chose rather to fast than to accept bitterness. For they enter not into His Body that are embittered, whereof in another place a Psalm says, "They that are embittered shall not be exalted in themselves." Therefore, "I have covered in fasting My Soul: and it became to Me for a reviling." This very thing became to Me for a reviling, that I consented not to them, that is, from them I fasted. For he that consents not to men seducing to evil, fasts from them; and through this fasting earns reviling, so that he is upbraided because he consents not to the evil thing.
The phrase "It was made a reproach against me" follows. The good are always a reproach to the wicked, because the good by no means acquiesce to the crimes of the wicked and withdraw from them and are not joined them by any association. They …
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence · Written before 523.
proposed
And again David saith, "I have humbled my soul in fasting, and I have become unto them a reproach. I have made sackcloth my clothing, and I have become unto them a byword": and by this he teacheth us that he not only endured the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They laughed at him as a fool for mortifying himself thus; and even for this he became a proverb to them; they made him the common subject of their banter. We must not think it strange if we be ill spoken of for that which is well done, and in which we have reason to hope that we are accepted of God. Our Lord Jesus was stoned for his good works ( John x.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
When I wept,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. Having resolved to hate him, everything he did was made a fresh reason for reviling. If he ate and drank as others, he was a man gluttonous and a winebibber; if he wept himself away and wore himself out with fasting, then he had a devil and was mad. Nothing is more cruel than prejudice, its eye colours all with the medium through which it looks, and its tongue rails at all indiscriminately. Our Saviour wept much in secret for our sins, and no doubt his private soul chastening on our behalf were very frequent. Lone mountains and desert places saw repeated agonies, which, if they could disclose them, would astonish us indeed. The emaciation which these exercises wrought in our Lord made him appear nearly fifty years old when he was but little over thirty; this which was to his honour was used as a matter of reproach against him.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting - The words “and chastened” are not in the original. The literal translation would be, “And I wept (away) my soul with fasting;” that is, I gave myself so much to fasting accompanied with weeping, that my strength was exhausted. This refers to his acts of devotion; to his endeavors to discipline his soul so as to lead a strictly religious life. That was to my reproach - This may either mean that they accused him of hypocrisy and insincerity; or, that they charged him with folly for being so religious, so strict, so self-sacrificing, so serious - perhaps they would say, so superstitious, so gloomy, so fanatical. The latter best accords with the connection, since it was for his “religion” mainly that they reproached him, Psa 69:7-9.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
the envy of Your house They saw the love that You showed us when Your house was still existing, and they envied me.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֶבְכֶּ֣ה | vaevkeh | and I wept | H1058 → | 114 times |
| בַצּ֣וֹם | vatzom | with <the> fasting | H6685 → | 26 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֑י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| וַתְּהִ֖י | vatehi | and it became | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לַחֲרָפ֣וֹת | lacharafot | <into> reproach<es> | H2781 → | 73 times |
| לִֽי׃ | li | to <the> me |
וָאֶבְכֶּ֣הand I wept
vaevkehH1058 →114 times
בַצּ֣וֹםwith <the> fasting
vatzomH6685 →26 times
נַפְשִׁ֑יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
וַתְּהִ֖יand it became
vatehiH1961 →3559 times
לַחֲרָפ֣וֹת<into> reproach<es>
lacharafotH2781 →73 times
לִֽי׃to <the> me
li
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 35:13Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.
it leads to
- Psalms 69:10–11
I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.
- Job 30:25
Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
- Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
- Isaiah 58:5
Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a…
- Leviticus 16:31
It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.
- Psalms 69:10–11
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 69; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 68:11; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence.