▼69:3 In verses 1-3 the psalmist (maybe David or Jeremiah) gives us a picture. It is of a man drowning. He shouts to God, ‘Save me.’ He wants God to pull him out of the water.

▼69:4 In verse 4 he tells us that the water is a picture of his enemies. His enemies are trying to destroy him just like the water tried to drown the man in the picture. He tells us two other things:

– There is no reason for them to try to kill him

– They made him give back something they say he took.

We do not know what this was. The psalmist says that he did not take it from them.

▼69:6 In verses 5-6 the psalmist says that he has sinned, or broken God’s rules. He asks that other people will not get hurt because of this. The armies (of heaven) are, maybe, angels not people. Heaven is where God lives and angels live there with him.

▼69:9 In verses 7-9 enemies of God want to say bad things to him. But they cannot see God. So they do and say bad things to God’s servants instead! In verses 22-29 the psalmist says what he wants God to do to these enemies.

▼69:10 In verse 10 we call ‘eating no food’ fasting. They thought that it made God answer their prayers.

▼69:11 In verse 11 people wore clothes made from sacks (‘sackcloth’) when they wanted to say ‘sorry’ to God.

▼69:12 In verse 12 the leaders of the people sat by the gate of their town. It was the place where they decided what to do.

▼69:13 The psalmist repeats some of what he said in verses 1-4. In verse 13 ‘the time when you will hear me’ maybe is a special meeting of God’s people.

▼69:14 ‘Any more’ in verse 14 means that he does not want a bigger lot of mud over him.

▼69:15 In verse 15 the pit was a special place. The Jews thought that when they died they went to a place under the ground called Sheol. In one corner of Sheol was a pit, or deep hole. Very bad people went there and never came out again! That is why the psalmist talks about his soul in verse 18. He is thinking about the part of him that will live when his body dies. He does not want it to live in Sheol and its pit. It is difficult to say who God will buy his soul back from at the end of the verse. Maybe he means Sheol. Christians say that Jesus bought our souls back from hell and that the enemy was the devil. The psalmist did not know this.

▼69:19 The insults (or bad things that people say about someone) in verse 19 have broken the heart of the psalmist in verse 20. This means that they have made him so sad that he wants to die. He looked for someone to listen to him and give him some help, but nobody did. Rather, they gave him a poison called gall and vinegar to drink. This is where we have some imprecations. They are in verses 22-29. Here, the idea of his enemies giving him poison makes him want them to eat poison! So he says in verse 22 that he wants their food (on their table) to trap them and their friends.

▼69:21 The poison that they gave him in verse 21 was gall. It had a bad taste, the opposite of sweet. Maybe it came from a plant, or a snake. Matthew 27:34 says that they gave Jesus vinegar and gall to drink just before they crucified (killed) him. But he did not drink it. Mark 15:23 says there was myrrh in the vinegar, which would make the pain less.

▼69:25 By verse 25, they are not in their towns but in Sheol where no one can see them.

▼69:28 Verses 27-28 are the worst imprecations we could ask! Not only does the psalmist ask that his enemies die and go to Sheol (verse 23). He asks more! He asks that God will not make them righteous and that he will take away their names from the book of life. To Christians, this means that he is asking God never to let these enemies become Christians. Jesus said that we must pray for our enemies. He showed us what words to say, when his enemies killed him. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them.’ When God forgives us he makes us righteous and puts our names into his book of life. Look at Psalms of Imprecation for more.

▼69:31 The ox and the bull in verse 31 were sacrifices. This means that they burnt them to bring pleasure to God. He told them to do this in the Book of Leviticus. But God wants us to thank and praise him more than giving him sacrifices. The only sacrifice Christians have is Jesus. That happened when people crucified (killed) him. When Christians thank and praise God, God gives them help.

▼69:32 They become brave again when life is difficult, verse 32.

▼69:33 Even people in prison because they love God and Jesus may become brave again, verse 33.

▼69:34 Some Bible students think that verses 35-36 came later than the first 34 verses. Someone wrote them after they came back to their land from Babylon, where they had been prisoners.