They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
Parallel Translations
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They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
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They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
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(69-22) Yea, they put poison into my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Psalms 69:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 27:34 they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall. When he had tasted it, he would not drink.
- Luke 23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,
- Mark 15:23 They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.
- Matthew 27:48 Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.
- Mark 15:36 One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
- John 19:28-30 After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.” Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
- Jeremiah 9:15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
- Jeremiah 8:14 “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves! Let’s enter into the fortified cities, and let’s be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.
- Deuteronomy 29:18 lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
- Jeremiah 23:15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 21. And they put gall into my meat. Here…
21. And they put gall into my meat. Here he again repeats that his enemies carry their cruelty towards him to the utmost extent in their power. He speaks metaphorically when he describes them as mingling gall or poison with his meat, and vinegar with his drink; even as it is said in Jeremiah,
“Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.” (Jeremiah 9:15)
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But still the Apostle John justly declares that this Scripture was fulfilled when the soldiers gave Christ vinegar to drink upon the cross, (John 19:28-30;) for it was requisite that whatever cruelty the reprobate exercise towards the members of Christ, should by a visible sign be represented in Christ himself. We have stated on the same principle, in our remarks upon Psalm 22:18, that when the soldiers parted the garments of Christ among them, that verse was appropriately quoted, “They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots;” although David’s object was to express by figurative language that he was robbed, and that all his goods were violently taken from him, and made a prey of by his enemies. The natural sense must, however, be retained; which is, that the holy prophet had no relief afforded him; and that he was in a condition similar to that of a man who, already too much afflicted, found, as an additional aggravation of his distress, that his meat was poisoned, and his drink rendered nauseous by the bitter ingredients with which it had been mingled.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 69:21 They gave me also gall for my…
Psa 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Ver. 21. They gave me also gall for my meat] Venenum vel eicutam; and so showed themselves miserable comforters.
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And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink] This befell David in figure, but Christ in the letter, Mat 27:34. It were happy if the vinegar given him might melt our adamantine hearts into godly sorrow.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Gall, or poison, or bitter herbs, Hos 10:4. See…
Gall, or poison, or bitter herbs, Hos 10:4. See Deu 29:18; Jer 9:15; Lam 3:19. Instead of giving me that pity and comfort which my condition required, they barbarously added to my afflictions. These things were metaphorically fulfilled in David, but properly and literally h Christ, the description of whose sufferings was principally intended here by the Holy Ghost, who therefore directed David’s pen to these words, and possibly informed him that this should be accomplished in Christ; which may not seem improbable to him that considers the following imprecations, which are so many and so severe, that they may seem to exceed the bounds of justice and charity, if they be applied to David’s enemies, as a recompence for their injuries done to him; whereas they most deservedly and fitly belong to the enemies and murderers of Christ.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain They gave me also gall for my meat,.... Either…
They gave me also gall for my meat,.... Either some bitter herb mentioned with wormwood and hemlock, Deu 29:18; or the gall of some animal The Targum renders it,
"the gall of the heads of serpents:''
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the poison of some serpents is in their heads, and the word that is here used signifies the head; see Deu 32:33. This was literally fulfilled in Christ, Mat 27:34; and showed that he bore the curse of the law; that being given to him for food, which was not fit to be eaten; thereby intimating, that he deserved not to have the common food and necessaries of life; which is the case of those in whose place and stead he suffered: and this may be a rebuke to such who, through fulness and affluence, are apt to slight and contemn some of the good creatures of God, which ought to be received with thanksgiving; let them remember the gall that was given Christ for meat. And this may serve to reconcile poor Christians to that mean fare and low way of living they are obliged to; though they, have but a dinner of herbs, or bread and water, it is better fare than their Lord's; it is not gall;
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink; Christ, when on the cross, was athirst, which was occasioned by a fever that usually attended persons in his circumstances; see Psa 22:15; and, that this Scripture might be fulfilled, he signified it, saying, "I thirst"; upon which vinegar was given to him, as all the evangelists relate; Mat 27:48. This shows the truth of Christ's human nature; that it was a true and real body that he assumed, which was subject to hunger and thirst, and was supported by food and drink, as our bodies are; also the truth of divine revelation; since such a minute circumstance as this, predicted so many hundred years ago, should, after so long a time, be exactly fulfilled; and likewise the truth of the Messiahship of Jesus, in whom this, and every thing else said Messiah, in the Law, the Prophets, and the book of Psalms, were fully accomplished; and therefore it may be strongly concluded that this is he of whom they spoke. Moreover, this expresses the inhumanity of the enemies of Christ, to use him in this manner, when he was suffering and dying; see Pro 31:6.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Gall - Instead of giving me that comfort which…
Gall - Instead of giving me that comfort which my condition required, they added to my afflictions. Vinegar - These things were metaphorically fulfilled in David, but properly in Christ, the description of whose sufferings was principally intended here by the Holy Ghost.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my…
Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my meat] Even the food, necessary to preserve us in their slavery, was frequently mingled with what rendered it unpleasant and disgusting, though not absolutely unwholesome. And vinegar, sour small wines, was given us for our beverage. This is applied to our Lord, Mt 27:34, where the reader is requested to consult the notes.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 69:21. They gave me gall for my meat…
Psa 69:21. They gave me gall for my meat — Instead of affording me that pity and comfort which my condition required, they barbarously added to my affliction. These words were only metaphorically fulfilled in David, but were properly and literally accomplished in Christ; the description of whose sufferings, it seems, was principally intended here by the Holy Ghost, who therefore directed David’s pen to these words. And hence what follows may as truly, and perhaps more properly, be considered as predictions of the punishment which should be inflicted on the persecutors of our Lord, than as imprecations of David against his enemies.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain They gave me also - My enemies; all persons…
They gave me also - My enemies; all persons around me. No one would show me even so much kindness as to give me food when I was hungry, or drink when I was thirsty. They utterly forsook me; they left me to die unpitied. Nay, they did more than this. When I was perishing with hunger, they not only refused to give me wholesome food, but they mocked my sufferings by giving me a bitter and poisonous herb for food, and vinegar for my drink.
Gall for my meat - For my food. Or, they gave me this “instead” of wholesome food. The word here rendered “gall” - ראשׁ rô'sh - is the same “in form” which is commonly rendered “head,” and occurs in this sense very often in the Scriptures. It is also used to denote a “poisonous plant,” perhaps from the idea that the plant referred to was distinguished for, or remarkable for its “head” - as the poppy; and “then” the name may have been given also to some other similar plants. The word then comes to denote poison; venom; anything poisonous; and then, anything very bad-tasted; “bitter.” It is rendered “gall,” as here, in Deu 29:18; Jer 8:14; Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15; Lam 3:5, Lam 3:19; Amo 6:12; “venom” in Deu 32:33; “poison,” in Job 20:16; and “hemlock,” in Hos 10:4. In Deu 29:18, it is rendered, in the margin, “rosh,” or “a poisonful herb.” It does not occur elsewhere with any such signification. It may not be possible to determine precisely what is denoted here by the word, but it undoubtedly refers to some poisonous, bitter, deadly, stupefying substance given to a sufferer, “instead” of that which would be wholesome food, or suited to sustain life.
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And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink - Instead of giving me pure water, they gave me sour wine - vinegar - that which would not slake my thirst, or which would not answer the purpose of drink. The form of trial here referred to is that where one is dying of thirst, and where, instead of giving water to assuage the thirst, one should give, in mockery, that which could not be drunk, or which would answer none of the purposes required. The word translated “vinegar” - חמץ chômets - is rendered in the ancient versions “sour grapes,” but the proper signification here seems to be vinegar - the usual meaning of the word. What is here stated to have been done to David was also done to the dying Saviour, though without any intimation that the passage here had an original reference to him - or that what was done to him was intended to be a fulfillment of what is here said. See Mat 27:34, Mat 27:48; Mar 15:23; Joh 19:29. In the case of the Saviour, they first gave him vinegar mingled with myrrh - a usual custom in reference to those who were crucified - for the purpose of deadening the pain, or stupefying the sufferer. Mat 27:34. At a subsequent part of the crucifixion they gave him vinegar, extended to him in a sponge affixed to a reed. Mat 27:48; Joh 19:29. This was for a different purpose. It was to allay his thirst, and it seems (as the former may have been) to have been an act of kindness or compassion on the part of those who were appointed to crucify him. The former he refused to take, because he came to suffer; the latter he just tasted as he died. Joh 19:30. The “coincidence” in the cases of David and the Saviour was remarkable; but in the case of the Saviour no further use is made of what occurred to David than to employ the “language” which he employed to describe his own sufferings. The one was not, in any proper sense, a “type” of the other; nor does the language in the psalm refer to the Saviour.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Instead of such, his enemies increase his pain by…
Instead of such, his enemies increase his pain by giving him most distasteful food and drink. The Psalmist may have thus described by figure what Christ found in reality (compare Joh 19:29-30).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. They gave me… gall for… meat— “Gall,” here,…
21. They gave me… gall for… meat— “Gall,” here, properly denotes active poison of any kind, whether in food or drink. See Jer_8:14; Amo_6:12. Sometimes the word signifies a poisonous herb, as Deu_29:18; Hos_10:4. Comp. 2Ki_4:38-41.
They gave me vinegar to drink—A direct foreshadowing of the sufferings of Christ, quoted Mat_27:34; Mat_27:48; Joh_19:29. When they came to the place of crucifixion “they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.” Mark says, “wine, (that is, soured wine, vinegar,) mingled with myrrh,” or bitter drug, answering to “gall,” Mat_27:34. This was to stupify him, and so render him less sensible to pain; but he declined it. Later they offered him vinegar as a stimulant, of which it does not appear that he drank further than tasting, as it was put to his lips.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. This verse is connected with the preceding one.…
21. This verse is connected with the preceding one. Not content with merely refusing sympathy, they aggravated and embittered his sufferings, as though one were to mock a hungry man by offering him bitter and poisonous food, or a thirsty man by giving him sour and undrinkable wine. The language is plainly metaphorical: cp. Jer_8:14; Jer_9:15; Jer_23:15. The Heb. word rôsh, rendered gall (LXX χολή, Vulg. and Jer. fel), denotes some bitter and poisonous plant, which cannot however be identified with certainty. Tristram (Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 447) thinks that the Poppy is the plant intended. “Papaver arenarium grows everywhere in Palestine; it springs up very quickly in cornfields, and its juice is most bitter and poisonous.”
Vinegar cannot here mean the thin sour wine which was used as a refreshing beverage (Num_6:3; Rth_2:14), but such as had gone bad and become nauseous and unfit to drink.
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Allusion seems to be made to this passage in St Matthew’s account of the Crucifixion (Mat_27:34), though it is not actually quoted; and St John expressly says that the cry “I thirst” was uttered “that the scripture might be accomplished[34].”
[34] The ‘Gospel of Peter’ (ch. 5) represents the potion of “gall with vinegar” as poison administered to hasten death.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Gall.—Heb., rôsh, i.e., head. (Comp. poppy heads. See…
(21) Gall.—Heb., rôsh, i.e., head. (Comp. poppy heads. See Deu_32:32.) In Hos_10:4 it is translated hemlock, but is most probably the poppy (papaver arenarium), which grows everywhere in Palestine, and answers all the conditions. The rendering, gall, comes from the LXX.
Vinegar.—Sour wine would not be rejected as unpalatable (see Note Rth_2:14). It was forbidden to Nazarites as a luxury (Num_6:3). Was the author of the psalm possibly a Nazarite? or are the expressions in the psalm merely figurative. Comp.
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“The banquet where the meats became
As wormwood.”
—TENNYSON: Elaine.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain They gave me also gall for my meat. Here,…
They gave me also gall for my meat. Here, at any rate, the psalmist is inspired to be Messianic, i.e. to use words which, while they can only be applied to himself metaphorically and loosely, are in the strictest and most literal sense applicable to Christ. Gall was actually mingled with the drink which was given to Christ just before he was crucified, and which he tasted, but would not swallow. (Mat_27:34) And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Similarly, when upon the cress Christ uttered the words, "I thirst," those who stood by "filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his month. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost"; (Joh_19:29, Joh_19:30) comp. Psa_22:16-18, where little facts, not true of David, but true of Christ, are recorded of an afflicted one, who partly represents David, partly his great Descendant.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 21. They gave me also gall for my…
Ver. 21. They gave me also gall for my meat. This was the sole refreshment cruelty had prepared for him. Others find pleasure in their food, but his taste was made to be an additional path of pain to him.
And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. A criminal's draught was offered to our innocent Lord, a bitter portion to our dying Master. Sorry entertainment had earth for her King and Saviour. How often have our sins filled the gall cup for our Redeemer? While we blame the Jews, let us not excuse ourselves.
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Ver. 21. They gave me also gall, etc. Such are the comforts often administered by the world, to an afflicted and deserted soul. George Horne.
Ver. 21. Gall and vinegar are here put together to denote the most unpalatable forms of food and drink. The passion of our Lord was providentially so ordered as to furnish a remarkable coincidence with this verse. The Romans were accustomed to give sour wine, with an infusion of myrrh, to convicts on the cross, for the purpose of deadening the pain. This practice was adhered to in our Saviour's case (Mr 15:23). Though in itself not cruel, but the contrary, it formed part of the great process of murderous persecution. On the part of the Roman soldiery it may have been an act of kindness; but, considered as an act of the unbelieving Jews, it was giving gall and vinegar to one already overwhelmed with anguish. And so Matthew, in accordance with his general method, represents it as a verification of this passage (Mt 27:34). He does not contradict Mark's account, before referred to, but merely intimates that the wine and myrrh thus offered were to be regarded as identical with the gall and vinegar of this prediction. And, in order to prevent the coincidence from being overlooked, our Lord, before he died, complained of thirst, and vinegar was administered. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Ver. 21. Gall for my meat. Since the life of sin first began in tasting, contrary to the obedience due to God, the Redeemer of sinners willed to be obedient even unto death, upon the cross, and to end his life, in fulfilment of the prophecy with the bitter taste of gall and vinegar, that, in this manner, we, seeing the beginning of our perdition and the end of our redemption, might feel ourselves to be most sufficiently redeemed and most perfectly cured. Thome de Jesu (1582), in "The Sufferings of Jesus."
Ver. 21. Vinegar. Commentators have frequently remarked the refreshing quality of the Eastern vinegar. I shall not repeat their observations, but rather would ask, why the psalmist prophetically complains of the giving him vinegar to drink, in that deadly thirst, which, in another Psalm, he describes by the tongue's cleaving to the jaws, if it be so refreshing? Its refreshing quality cannot be doubted; but may it not be replied, that, besides the gall which he mentions, and which ought not to be forgotten, vinegar itself, refreshing as it is, was only made use of by the meanest people? When a royal personage has vinegar given him in his thirst, the refreshment of a slave, of a wretched prisoner, instead of that of a prince, he is greatly dishonoured, and may well complain of it as a bitter insult, or represent such insults by this image. Sweet wines, as appears from the ancient Eastern translators of the Septuagint, were chiefly esteemed formerly, for that which our version renders "royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the King, "(Es 1:7.) they translate, "much and sweet wine, such as the King himself drank." Perhaps, it was with a view to this, that the soldiers offered our Lord vinegar (wine that was become very sour), in opposition to that sweet wine princes were wont to drink: for Luke tells us that they did this in mockery (Lu 23:36.) "And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar." Medicated wine, to deaden their sense of pain, was wont, we are told, to be given to Jewish criminals, when about to be put to death; but, they gave our Lord vinegar, and that in mockery--in mockery (as they did other things) of his claim to royalty. But the force of this does not appear, if we do not recollect the quality of the wines drank anciently by princes, which, it seems, were of the sweet kind. Thomas Harmer.
Ver. 21. The conduct of men to Jesus throughout his entire life, rendering to him evil for all his good, and where good would have seemed to be the inevitable return.
Psalms 69:22*
From this point David and our Lord for awhile part company, if we accept the rendering of our version. The severe spirit of the law breathes out imprecations, while the tender heart of Jesus offers prayers for his murderers. The whole of these verses, however, may be viewed as predictions, and then they certainly refer to our Lord, for we find portions of them quoted in that manner by the apostle in Ro 11:9-10, and by Christ himself in Mt 23:38.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 69:21 sour wine for my thirst: This description applies…
69:21 sour wine for my thirst: This description applies to Jesus’ suffering (Matt 27:34, 48; Luke 23:36; John 19:28-29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.