Psalms 80:5

You fed them with the bread of tears and made them drink the full measure of their tears.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD God of Hosts, pleading for relief from divine anger while describing Israel's current state of suffering. The speaker occupies the moment between a petition for God to cease His wrath and a complaint about foreign mockery.

The words — The Hebrew לֶחֶם (lechem) means "bread," paired with דִמְעָה (dim‘ah) for "tear," forming the phrase "bread of tears." The term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish) denotes a "third part" or specific measure, indicating the complete portion of suffering.

The thread — This imagery of tears as sustenance appears in Psalm 42:3 and Psalm 102:9, while Isaiah 30:20 parallels the concept with the "bread of adversity." These passages collectively depict affliction as a forced, daily reality rather than a temporary trial.

Why it lands — The verse demands acknowledgment that divine discipline can manifest as prolonged, inescapable hardship rather than overt punishment. It requires the reader to confront the reality of suffering as the immediate context of prayer, not merely a spiritual lesson.

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

הֶ֭אֱכַלְתָּםHe.'e.khal.to/myou have fed/ them לֶ֣חֶםLe.chembread of דִּמְעָ֑הdim.'Ahtear[s]וַ֝תַּשְׁקֵ֗מוֹva./tash.Ke./movand/ you have made drink/ them בִּדְמָע֥וֹתbi/d.ma.'ot<in>/ tears שָׁלִֽישׁ׃sha.Lisha third of a measure

King James Version

Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

Cross-references

Psalms 42:3 My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Isaiah 30:20 The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.
Psalms 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears
Job 6:7 My soul refuses to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.
Ezekiel 4:16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.