Read
Psalm 102:9
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
7I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
8My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.
9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
10because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up and thrown me away.
11My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
Notice
Ashes like bread and tears mixed into a drink portray sorrow reaching the table, where even the most basic acts of living carry grief.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does the picture of tears mixed into a drink capture about sorrow you have known?
Write on thisHow has grief changed the ordinary routines of eating and drinking for you?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 42:3My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”Both psalms describe tears as part of eating or drinking, making grief as constant as the need for food.
Job 3:24For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.Job’s sighing before eating and the psalm’s tear-filled drink both show distress entering the routines of a meal.
Psalm 80:5You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.Both psalms connect bread and drink with tears, describing suffering through the language of nourishment.
Isaiah 44:20He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”Both passages speak of eating ashes, though Isaiah describes a deceived heart and the psalm describes grief.
Isaiah 30:20Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your …Both passages use bread and drink to describe affliction, though Isaiah also speaks of teachers becoming visible.
Job 16:16My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids,Job’s face marked by weeping and the psalm’s drink mixed with tears both portray the bodily presence of sorrow.
Isaiah 38:3and said, “Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Then …Hezekiah’s weeping and the psalm’s tears both belong to accounts of distress expressed before God.
Deuteronomy 16:3You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt …Both connect bread with suffering; Deuteronomy commands a meal of remembrance, while the psalm describes present grief.
1 Kings 22:27Say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.”’”Both associate bread and drink with suffering, though Kings describes prison provisions and the psalm describes personal sorrow.
2 Kings 20:3“Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah …Both passages include tears in the setting of speech directed to God, with Hezekiah’s plea followed by weeping.
2 Chronicles 18:26and say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.”’”Both link food and drink with affliction; Chronicles records a king’s prison order, while the psalm voices grief.
Job 6:7My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.Both use troubling descriptions of food: Job speaks of loathsome food, and the psalm compares ashes to bread.
Where this verse fits
Grief. feeling distant from God. loneliness.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
There is room in prayer for sorrow that reaches even your food and drink. The psalm records tears without bringing them to an end.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 102:9. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 102 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).