But instead, they give me poison for food; they offer me sour wine for my thirst.
Parallel translations
- WEB They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
- KJV They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
- BSB They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.
- NKJV They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
- NASB They also gave me a bitter herb in my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
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's enemies gave him gall for food and vinegar to drink, adding cruelty to his suffering. It is directly fulfilled in Christ's crucifixion.
Overview
David describes the bitter cruelty of foes who offered him poison-like gall and sour vinegar instead of comfort. This verse is explicitly fulfilled at Calvary, where Jesus was offered gall and vinegar to drink (Matthew 27:34, 48; John 19:28-30). It stands among the clearest prophetic links between this psalm of the suffering righteous one and the passion of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Matt 27:34they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall. When he had tasted it, he would not drink.
- Luke 23:36The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,
- Mark 15:23They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.
- Matt 27:48Immediately 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 15:36One 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 19:28–30After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
- Jer 9:15therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
- Jer 8:14“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.
- Deut 29:18lest 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;
- Jer 23:15Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
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 69:21 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.