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Psalm 69:3
I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.
1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
2I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.
4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
5God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.
Notice
A dry throat and failing eyes show how far crying can wear a person down, even while the search for God continues.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
Which detail, the weary crying, dry throat, or failing eyes, comes closest to something you have experienced?
Write on thisWhat might you write to God when looking for him has left you tired?
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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
Proverbs 13:12Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.Both describe the cost of longing without relief: a sick heart in Proverbs and worn-out eyes in the psalm.
Psalm 6:6I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.Both speakers describe weariness from sorrow, with crying and a dry throat in one psalm and tears soaking a bed in the other.
Psalm 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.A dry throat and a tongue stuck to the mouth both make suffering tangible through bodily distress.
Isaiah 38:14I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”Both speakers describe weakened eyes as they look toward God, joining bodily exhaustion with a plea for help.
Psalm 119:82Both describe failing eyes while waiting for God; Psalm 119 names the longing for his word and comfort.
Romans 8:26In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with …Both passages concern weakness in prayer; the psalm describes exhausted crying, while Romans speaks of the Spirit’s help and intercession.
Psalm 119:123My eyes fail looking for your salvation, for your righteous word.Both speakers describe their eyes failing as they look for God or for his salvation and righteous word.
Deuteronomy 28:32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your …Both describe eyes failing with longing: for God in the psalm, and for children taken away in Deuteronomy.
Job 16:16My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids,Both describe sorrow through its effects on the body, especially the face and eyes after weeping.
Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”Failing eyes appear in both passages, though Job’s verse speaks of the wicked and the psalm records a cry toward God.
Job 31:16“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,Both use failing eyes to describe distress; Job’s words concern a widow, while the psalm describes someone looking for God.
John 19:28After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty!”The psalm’s dry throat and Jesus’ spoken thirst share the bodily distress of a parched mouth.
Where this verse fits
Grief. feeling distant from God. waiting.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The speaker still says “my God” with a dry throat and failing eyes. Exhaustion has a place in prayer, even when relief has not come.
Now put it in your words.
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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).