Bible Strands
Psalms 69:10
I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks in a personal lament, recounting his mourning practices immediately after noting how zeal for God’s house drew insults upon him (Psalms 69:9) and just before describing his adoption of sackcloth (Psalms 69:11).
The words — The phrase בַ/צּ֣וֹם (ba./Tzom) literally means “with fasting,” while לַ/חֲרָפ֣וֹת (la./cha.ra.Fot) translates to “into reproaches,” showing how the speaker’s self-denial was actively reframed by his opponents as a cause for mockery.
The thread — This dynamic of devout practice meeting hostility appears in Psalms 35:13, where fasting and sackcloth yield no divine intervention, and Luke 7:33, where John’s abstention from bread and wine provokes public criticism.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that sincere spiritual discipline does not guarantee social acceptance, and that outsiders often misinterpret holy austerity as grounds for contempt.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
Cross-references
- Luke 7:33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’
- Psalms 35:13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.
- Psalms 102:8 All day long my enemies taunt me; they ridicule me and curse me.
- Psalms 109:24 My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.