Psalm 69:20-21
“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. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
King James Version
The gall and vinegar given to the Suffering Servant, fulfilled at the cross when soldiers offered Jesus vinegar and gall.
Fulfillment References
Matthew 27:34 John 19:29 Mark 15:36
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalPsalm 69 is a passion psalm — gall for meat and vinegar in thirst, given to Jesus at the cross (Matt. 27:34; John 19:29). The reproached, comfortless Sufferer is the Lord Jesus, God come in flesh to bear our reproach: 'the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me' (Rom. 15:3). The one God Himself entered our suffering.
JewishA lament of the righteous sufferer (David), persecuted and given bitter drink as an image of cruelty; read of the psalmist's distress, not a crucified Messiah.
CatholicA Passion psalm; the gall and vinegar are read of the crucifixion and woven into the Holy Week liturgy.
ProtestantDirectly fulfilled at Golgotha (Matt. 27:34, 48); after Psalm 22, among the most-cited passion psalms in the Gospels.
AcademicAn individual lament; the evangelists drew on its bitter-drink imagery in the crucifixion narratives. Whether they report or shape events toward the text is debated.
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Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.