I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.
Parallel translations
- WEB When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
- BSB I made sackcloth my clothing, and I was sport to them.
- NKJV I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.
- NASB When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a proverb to them.
- NLT When I dress in burlap to show sorrow, they make fun of me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When David wore sackcloth in grief, he became a laughingstock and a byword. It shows public humiliation endured for the sake of devotion.
Overview
David's mourning garments, a sign of humble sorrow before God, made him an object of ridicule and a proverb of contempt. His sincere humility was twisted into a joke by his enemies. Such undeserved scorn for godliness foreshadows the mockery Christ endured, and it reminds the faithful that the world often despises what God honors.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 24:9And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
- 1 Kgs 9:7Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:
- Job 17:6He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
- Deut 28:37And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
- Isa 22:12And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
- Ps 44:13–14Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
- Isa 20:2At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
- Joel 1:8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
- Ps 35:13–14But 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.
- Joel 1:13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 69:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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