Psalm 69:23

Psalm 69:23, in plain English

May your enemies lose their sight and be physically broken—unable to see what's coming or stand upright ever again.

Why it's here

In the ancient world, blindness and being bent over were understood as signs of God's curse and judgment. The psalmist is asking God to mark his enemies visibly, so everyone would know they'd fallen under God's hand. It's a request for public vindication through their public humiliation.

Who's speaking

The persecuted psalmist, desperate for God to make the injustice visible to everyone.

Where it sits in the story

The Bible takes seriously the idea that God judges evil. These curses aren't pretty, but they're honest about what justice looks like when evil has run unchecked. They remind us that God's patience with evil isn't endless.

The scholarly reading

Another curse: may the enemies lose their ability to see and be physically broken, bent under the weight of their own judgment.

Language and setting

The progression of curses intensifies—from corruption of sustenance to loss of perception to physical infirmity. The darkening of eyes (Hebrew עֵינַיִם, 'eynayim) invokes both literal blindness and the metaphorical blindness to God's truth. The 'bent back' (Hebrew קְדַח, qadach, meaning to be crooked or bowed) recalls the language of divine judgment in Leviticus 26:13, where God promises Israel that if they rebel, He will 'break the pride of your power.' The imprecatory psalms operate within a forensic logic: enemies of God's anointed are enemies of God's order.

Voice

The psalmist, intensifying his appeal to divine justice.

Significance

This pattern of sensory deprivation as judgment appears throughout Scripture—from the blindness inflicted on the men of Sodom (Genesis 19:11) to the spiritual blindness Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4:4. The bent back suggests perpetual servitude and humiliation, a reversal of the upright posture that, in biblical anthropology, signifies human dignity and freedom.

21They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

22May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.

23May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.

24Pour out Your wrath upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them.

25May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

Read all of Psalm 69 — David is drowning — literally and figuratively. The waters have come up to my neck. A psalm of desperation that Jesus made His own.