to weep · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
soul
נַפְשִׁ֑יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fasting
בַצּ֣וֹםva.Tzom
H6685
a fast · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
reproach
לַחֲרָפ֣וֹתla.cha.ra.Fot
H2781
contumely · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 7:33-34 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
Psalms 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
Psalms 102:8-9 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
Psalms 109:24-25 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 69:1-12
In these verses David complains of his troubles, intermixing with those complaints some requests for relief.
I. His complaints are very sad, and he pours them out before the Lord, as one that hoped thus to ease himself of a burden that lay very heaven upon him.
1. He complains of the deep impressions that his troubles made upon his spirit (Psa 69:1, Psa 69:2): "The waters of affliction, those bitter waters, have come unto my soul, not only threaten my life, but disquiet my mind; they fill my head with perplexing cares and my heart with oppressive grief, so that I cannot enjoy God and myself as I used to do." We shall bear up under our troubles if we can but keep them from our hearts; but, wh…
wept (and chastened) my soul--literally, "wept away my soul," a strongly figurative description of deep grief.
John Gill on Psalms 69:10
When I wept,.... Because of the sins of his people imputed to him; the hardness and unbelief of the Jews that rejected him; their impiety and profaneness in polluting the temple with their merchandise: he wept at the grave of Lazarus, and over the city of Jerusalem, on account of the blindness of its inhabitants, and the ruin coming upon them; and in his prayers at different times, especially in the garden and on the cross, which were offered up with strong crying and tears; see John 11:35;
and chastened my soul with fasting; or "my soul being in fasting" (y). The Targum renders it, "in the fasting of my soul"; the word "chastened" is supplied from Psalm 35:13; and "soul" is put for the bod…
Psalm 69:10-13
10. And I wept, my soul fasted; and that was laid to me as a reproach. 11. I also made sackcloth my clothing: and I became a proverb to them. 12. They who sit in the gate defame me: and I am the song of those who drink intoxicating liquor. 13. But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Jehovah! in a time of thy favor, [or good-will,] O God: answer me in the multitude of thy mercy, in the truth of thy salvation.
10. And I wept, my soul fasted David here proves, by the signs or effects, that his efforts to promote the Divine glory proceeded from a pure and well-regulated zeal, inasmuch as he was not impelled or inflamed by the impetuosity of the flesh, but rather humbly abased him…
The Church Fathers
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 attest to those reproaches, boxings of the ears, scourgings and spittings, which our Lord the Savior endured at the hands of the maddened mob.
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 labour of good deeds, but that he also heard reproaches and indignant words because thereof, and endured them patiently; from which thou also mayest learn that if thy labours are despised by the slothful, and thy tribulations are repeated mockingly by those who love pleasure, thou must remember these words and be comforted, and let them be a support for thy soul when irritation at the wicked cometh upon thee.
"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.
Dictionary and topics
Gall — (1) Heb. mererah, meaning “bitterness” (Job 16:13); i.e., the bile secreted in the liver. This word is also used of the poison of asps (20:14), and of the vitals, the seat of life (25). (2.) Heb.…
Gin — A trap. (1.) Ps. 140:5, 141:9, Amos 3:5, the Hebrew word used, mokesh, means a noose or “snare,” as it is elsewhere rendered (Ps. 18:5; Prov. 13:14, etc.). (2.) Job 18:9, Isa. 8:14, Heb. pah, a plate…
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Shoshannim — Lilies, the name of some musical instrument, probably like a lily in shape (Ps. 45; 69, title). Some think that an instrument of six strings is meant.
Fasting · For the chastening of the soul — For the chastening of the soul
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Persecution · OF JESUS — OF JESUS
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Out of deep distress, the work of his foes, the complaining one cries for help; he thinks upon his sins, which is sufferings bring to his remembrance, but he is also distinctly conscious that he is an object of scorn and hostility for God's sake, and from His mercy he looks for help in accordance with His promises. The waters are said to rush in unto the soul (עד־נפשׁ), when they so press upon the imperilled one that the soul, i.e., the life of the body, more especially the breath, is threatened; cf. Jon 2:6; Jer 4:10. Waters are also a figure of calamities that come on like a flood and drag one into their vortex, Psa 18:17; Psa 32:6; Psa 124:5, cf. Psa 66:12; Psa 88:8, Psa 88:18; here, howe…
When the psalmist denies himself normal comforts to seek God in prayer, the wicked ridicule him.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 69:10
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
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…
