Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
Parallel translations
- WEB Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
- BSB Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
- NKJV Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
- NASB ¶Disgrace has broken my heart, and I am so sick. And I waited for sympathy, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
- NLT Their insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. If only one person would show some pity; if only one would turn and comfort 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
Reproach has broken David's heart and left him in despair, finding no one to comfort him. It expresses the crushing loneliness of unrelieved suffering.
Overview
David's heart is shattered by reproach, and he searches in vain for pity or comforters. The depth of isolation here is profound. This verse strikingly anticipates Christ in Gethsemane and at the cross, abandoned and uncomforted by men, who endured the loneliness of bearing our sin so that we would never be left without the Comforter.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 63:5And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
- Job 16:2I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
- Ps 142:4I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
- Mark 14:50And they all forsook him, and fled.
- Matt 26:56But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
- John 16:32Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
- John 12:27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
- 2 Tim 4:16–17At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
- Matt 26:37–38And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
- Heb 11:36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
- Mark 14:37And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
- Ps 123:4Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
- Ps 42:6O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
- Job 19:21–22Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
- Ps 42:10As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 69:20 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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