Psalms 69:1-36 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

LXIX. A Prayer for Deliverance and Revenge. The author was a pious Jew, burning with zeal for the purity of the Temple worship (Psalms 69:9). He was a representative man, so that the reproaches of those that reproached Yahweh fell upon him. If he was defeated, the pious throughout Israel would lose hope. He was in great danger of his life, and that from his fellow-Jews (Psalms 69:8). Maccabean times suit the situation best, though Maccabean origin is incapable of proof. Cf., e.g., the career of Alcimus (pp. 382, 607) the Hellenised High Priest as related in 1 Maccabees 9, where ho is said to have pulled down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. The Psalmist, when he wrote, was apparently excluded from Temple service, for he is content to offer the sacrifice of praise, confident that such a spiritual offering will please God better than the slaughter of a dumb beast.

Psalms 69:2-4. Cry for Help. The poet suffers metaphorically what Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38) suffered literally.

Psalms 69:4. while I wait: read, from waiting (LXX). Read also, I (emphatic) had to restore that which I took not away.

Psalms 69:5-12. The Psalmist acknowledges his sin before God, but it is his virtue, not his fault, which has brought ruin upon him.

Psalms 69:13-18. Prayer for deliverance.

Psalms 69:13. in an acceptable time: read, do thou accept me. The time was the reverse of acceptable.

Psalms 69:19-28. The Psalmist's suffering and thirst for vengeance.

Psalms 69:22 b. Read and let their peace-offerings become a trap.

Psalms 69:26 b. Read, They add to the affliction of thy wounded ones (LXX). This may refer to the defeat and death of Judas Maccabæ us and his men.

Psalms 69:27. into thy righteousness: i.e. into the assembly of those whom God declares righteous.

Psalms 69:28. the book of life: the burgess roll of citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Psalms 69:29-33. The Psalmist's confidence and gratitude.

The whole Ps. is intensely individual: it depicts the agony of a lonely soul. But the compiler of the Psalter has added the three final verses, in which the popular desire for the restoration of the county towns of Judah and the faith of the pious in the God of the whole earth, find expression.

Related Commentaries of Psalms 69:1

Psalms 69:1-36

1 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

2 I sink in deep mire,a where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sinsb are not hid from thee.

6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.c

13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: heard me speedily.

18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

25 Let their habitatione be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

29 But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

32 The humblef shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that movethg therein.

35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.