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 opening — all 2 verses are below
The gall and vinegar given to the Suffering Servant, fulfilled at the cross when soldiers offered Jesus vinegar and gall.
Read the whole passage — all 2 verses (KJV)
69:20Reproach 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.
69:21They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
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.
Open the full interactive entry →
Audio narration (listen to this prophecy read aloud), cross-references, Hebrew/Greek, Dead Sea Scrolls notes, a prophetic timeline, network maps, study tools and multi-tradition analysis in the interactive explorer.
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, D.Min. · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.