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I am the favorite topic of town gossip, and all the drunks sing about me.
Psalms 69:12 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
  • KJV They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.
  • BSB Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of drunkards.
  • NKJV Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards.
  • NASB Those who sit in the gate talk about me, And songs of mockery by those habitually drunk are about 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

David is the talk of the town's leaders and the subject of drunkards' songs. It depicts being publicly mocked at every level of society.

Overview

From the city elders sitting in the gate to drunkards in their revelry, David has become an object of gossip and ridicule across society. Both respectable and disreputable people scorn him. This widespread mockery anticipates the universal rejection Christ faced, scorned by rulers and common people alike at his trial and crucifixion.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Acts 4:26–27The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take council together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.’
  • Ps 35:15–16But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
  • Matt 27:41–42Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said,
  • Mark 15:17–19They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
  • Matt 27:20Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
  • Deut 16:18You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
  • Dan 5:23but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.
  • Gen 19:1The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,
  • Luke 23:2They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
  • Job 30:8–9They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.
  • Matt 27:62–63Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate,
  • Matt 27:12–13When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
  • Dan 5:2–4Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 69:12YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 69:12 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.