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Psalm 69:11

When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

9For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.
11When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
13But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.
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Notice

Sackcloth makes the speaker’s mourning visible, yet those around him turn his grief into a byword, adding public shame to sorrow.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What stands out to you about mourning clothes becoming a reason for mockery?

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When have you seen someone’s visible grief met with contempt, and what response did you make?

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What would you want a trusted friend to understand about sorrow you hesitate to show?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 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
1 Kings 9:7then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel …Both passages describe becoming a byword: the psalm speaks of one sufferer, while Kings speaks of Israel facing God’s judgment.
Job 17:6“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.Both speakers describe becoming a byword among people, with Job also naming the contempt of being spat upon.
Jeremiah 24:9I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all …Both passages describe people becoming objects of contempt, expressed as a byword in the psalm and a proverb and taunt in Jeremiah.
Deuteronomy 28:37You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.The word byword connects the speaker’s public disgrace with the disgrace described for a people led away by the LORD.
Genesis 37:34Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.Sackcloth makes mourning visible in both passages; Genesis names Jacob’s grief for his son, while the psalm records the onlookers’ contempt.
Psalm 35:13–14But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.Both speakers wear sackcloth, and both psalm settings connect that clothing with fasting amid distress.
Joel 1:8Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!Both passages connect sackcloth with sorrow; Joel describes mourning for a husband, while the psalm adds the pain of public contempt.
Psalm 44:13–14You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.Both psalms describe suffering made worse by surrounding people who turn the sufferers into objects of scorn.
Isaiah 22:12In that day, the Lord, GOD of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;Both passages link sackcloth with weeping and mourning, though Isaiah records God’s command and the psalm records a sufferer’s treatment.
Isaiah 20:2at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your sandals from off your feet.” He …Sackcloth is the shared garment: the psalm’s speaker puts it on, while Isaiah receives a command to remove it.
Joel 1:13Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and …Both passages associate sackcloth with mourning, and both surrounding settings mention concern for God’s house.
Where this verse fits

Grief. loneliness. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about loneliness →What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 69:11–13 aloud, pausing after the mockery

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Encouragement

The mockery remains part of this prayer. The speaker brings it to God, whose loving kindness is the ground of his plea for an answer.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 69:11. 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 69 · 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).