Psalms 69:5

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of "Lilies." Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck. ²I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me. ³I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. ⁴Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me-my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay. ⁵You know my folly, O God, and my guilt is not hidden from You.⁶May those who hope in You not be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of Hosts; may those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel. ⁷For I have endured scorn for Your sake, and shame has covered my face. ⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons, ⁹because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me. ¹⁰I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and my sins: Heb. and my guiltiness, Psalms 17:3, Psalms 19:12, Psalms 44:20, Psalms 44:21

hid: Psalms 38:9, Jeremiah 16:17

Reciprocal: Psalms 73:22 - So Ezekiel 13:9 - neither shall they be Zechariah 1:12 - how

Gill's Notes on the Bible

O God, thou knowest my foolishness,.... Not that there was real foolishness in him, who, as man, from his infancy was filled with wisdom, and increased in it; and, as Mediator, had the spirit of wisdom on him, and the treasures of wisdom in him; and, as a divine Person, he is the Wisdom of God, and the only wise God; and, as in our nature, there was no foolishness in his heart, nor in his words, nor in his actions: but this is to be understood either of what was accounted so by others; he and his followers were reckoned foolish and illiterate men, and the Gospel preached by him and his apostles was foolishness to them that perished; or of what he was charged with by his enemies; even with immorality, heresy, blasphemy, and sedition; of all which he was innocent, and therefore could appeal to his divine Father, who knows all things, that he was clear of all such folly; for it may be rendered, "thou knowest as to my foolishness" x, with respect to what he was charged with, that there was none in him; or else it regards the foolishness of his people imputed to him, the sin that folly of follies, together with all the foolishness in the heart, lip, and lives of his people, before and after conversion; these were all reckoned to him, and reckoned by him, as his own in some sense; and which is confirmed by what follows:

and my sins are not hid from thee; meaning not any committed by him; for then he could not have said what he does in Psalms 69:4; but the sins of his people imputed to him, which be calls his own,

Psalms 69:4- :: these must be known to his divine Father, since he is God omniscient, and since he laid them upon him, and he made satisfaction for them to him; and which he observes to enforce his petition, Psalms 69:1; with this compare Isaiah 53:11.

x לאולתי "tu nosti ut res se habeat quoad stultitiam meam", Gussetius, p. 312.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O God, thou knowest my foolishness - The errors and follies of my life. Though conscious of innocence in this case - though he felt that his enemies hated him “without cause,” and that they took what belonged to him and not to them, yet he was not insensible to the fact that he was a sinner, and he was not unwilling to confess before God, that, however conscious of uprightness he might be in his dealings toward people, yet toward God, he was a sinful man. From him he deserved all that had come upon him. Indeed the very calamities which had been permitted to come upon him were proof to his own mind that he was a sinner, and served, as they were doubtless designed, to turn his mind to that fact, and to humble him. The effect of calamities coming upon us, as reminding us of the fact that we are sinners, is often referred to in the Psalms. See Psalms 38:2-4; Psalms 40:12.

And my sins are not hid from thee - Margin, “guiltiness.” The word used here has always attached to it the idea of “guilt.” The meaning is, that God knew all his life; and that however unjust the conduct of “men” toward him might be when they treated him as if he had wronged them, yet considered as a part of the dealings of God, or as having been suffered to come upon him from God, all that had occurred was right, for it was a proper expression of the divine displeasure against his sins. We may feel that we have not wronged our fellow-men; yet even the treatment which we receive from them, however unjust so far as they are concerned, may be regarded as deserved by us at the hand of God, and as proper on his part as an expression of his displeasure for our transgressions against him, and as a proof that we are sinners. Trial never comes to us from any quarter except as founded on the fact that we are sinners; and even where there is entire innocence toward our fellow-men, God may make use of their passions to rebuke and discipline us for our sins toward himself.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 69:5. Thou knowest my foolishness — Though we have been brought into captivity in consequence of the crimes of our fathers, yet we have guilt enough of our own to merit a continuation of our miseries. How can such words as are in this verse be attributed to our blessed Lord, however they may be twisted or turned?