Read
Psalm 69:4
Those 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.
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.
6Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord GOD of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
Notice
Having to restore what was never taken makes the injustice concrete: the speaker faces both overwhelming hatred and a demand to pay for another’s loss.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What would it mean, in your circumstances, to restore something you never took?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, have you faced hatred that seemed to have no cause?
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
John 15:25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’Jesus identifies hatred without a cause as fulfilling Scripture, echoing the psalm’s protest against hatred with no just grounds.
Psalm 25:3Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.Both passages name harm done without cause: hatred and forced repayment in Psalm 69, treacherous conduct in Psalm 25.
Psalm 35:19Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.Both speakers describe wrongful enemies and hatred without a cause; Psalm 35 asks that those enemies be denied their triumph.
Psalm 109:3–5They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.Both speakers face hatred without a cause, with numerous enemies in Psalm 69 and surrounding words of hatred in Psalm 109.
Psalm 59:3For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, LORD.Both passages describe mighty enemies threatening the speaker’s life without wrongdoing that would account for their attack.
Isaiah 53:6All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.Both describe a burden arising from what others have done, though the psalm names repayment and Isaiah names iniquity.
2 Corinthians 5:21For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.The psalm describes repayment for something never taken; Paul describes the sinless Christ being made sin on behalf of others.
Isaiah 53:4–7Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.Both describe suffering under a burden associated with others: wrongful demands in the psalm, others’ sickness and suffering in Isaiah.
Genesis 37:4His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.Hatred marks both passages: the psalm describes numerous enemies, while Genesis names Joseph’s brothers and their inability to speak peaceably.
Isaiah 52:4For the Lord GOD says: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.Both texts name harm inflicted without cause, whether by the speaker’s mighty enemies or by the Assyrian oppressing God’s people.
1 Samuel 19:5for he put his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin …Both passages describe a life threatened without cause; Jonathan names David’s innocence and the victory God worked through him.
1 Samuel 26:18He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand?Both speakers challenge hostility against them, one declaring his enemies unjust and the other asking what evil warrants pursuit.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. work conflict. family conflict.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not have to call an unjust demand fair when you pray. Here, the speaker tells God that hatred and forced repayment have no just cause.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 69:4. 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).