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Psalm 69:20

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

18Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.
19You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.
20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
21They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
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← Psalm 69:19Psalm 69:21 →
Notice

The search for comfort ends twice with no one there, adding the pain of abandonment to a heart already broken by reproach.

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

What stands out to you about the speaker looking for comforters and finding none?

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When have you looked for pity, and what response did you receive?

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What would you want a trusted friend to understand about your need for comfort?

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Connect

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
Matthew 26:31Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock …The psalm describes absent comforters, while Jesus foretells his followers stumbling and scattering; both speak of human company failing.
Isaiah 63:5I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me.Both passages describe looking for someone to help and finding no one to offer support.
1 Peter 1:6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials,Both passages acknowledge grief, though Peter speaks of rejoicing amid trials while the psalm stays with heaviness and absent comforters.
Job 16:2“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!Comfort fails in both passages: the psalm finds no comforters, while Job finds the comforters present miserable.
Psalm 142:4Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.Both prayers describe looking for human concern and finding no one who offers care.
Mark 14:50They all left him, and fled.The psalm's search for comforters ends in absence; Mark describes everyone leaving Jesus and fleeing.
Matthew 26:56But all this has happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.The psalm describes finding no comforters, and Matthew describes all the disciples leaving Jesus and fleeing.
Ecclesiastes 4:1Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on …Both passages name suffering made lonelier by the absence of comforters, with Ecclesiastes repeating that the oppressed have none.
Luke 10:31By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.The psalm describes a search for pity; Luke describes a priest who sees someone and passes by.
Romans 15:3For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”Reproach burdens the speaker in the psalm; Paul quotes Scripture to describe reproaches falling on Christ.
Job 19:13“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.Both speakers describe painful human absence: the psalm lacks comforters, while Job names distant brothers and estranged acquaintances.
John 12:27“Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time’? But I came to this time for this cause.The psalm names a broken heart and heaviness; Jesus names his troubled soul as he speaks of what lies ahead.
Where this verse fits

Loneliness. grief. broken friendship.

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

Something small to carry out of this verse

Ask a trusted friend for ten minutes of listening

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Encouragement

This lament belongs in Scripture with its heaviness intact. Your prayer need not end with relief; the speaker tells God that no comforter came.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 69:20. 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).