The big picture
Psalm 69 begins with too much water and not enough breath. The speaker sinks in mire, cries until his throat is dry, and faces hatred he says has no just cause. Yet he also confesses his own foolishness and sin, refusing to turn protest into a claim of complete innocence. Reproach spreads through family and public life, human comfort fails, and even food and drink become bitter. The petitions for judgment are severe, especially when the enemies' table is asked to become a snare, but the psalm does not end there. The poor and sorrowful speaker anticipates a song that will encourage other humble people because God hears the poor and does not despise prisoners. Creation is summoned to praise, Zion is rebuilt, and descendants receive a place to dwell. A prayer that opened without a foothold closes with an inheritance and a home.
Central truth
Psalms 22 and 69 let a righteous sufferer speak from abandonment, mockery, bodily danger, false accusation, and public shame while continuing to address God, and both psalms move beyond distress toward vindication, praise, and a widening circle of worship.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Psalms 69:1: “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.”
Slow down at the turning point
Psalms 69:13: “But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, deep, reproach, become, dwell, hear
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Psalm 22:1-11
My God inside the why
Begin with the cry of verse 1 and say plainly that this is the most honest prayer of abandonment in Scripture, and that Jesus prayed it on the cross. Explain roaring as groaning, a sound of pain. Then show the rhythm of verses 1-11: complaint, then But thou art holy; complaint again, then God who took me from the womb. Teach this first because it shows that lament keeps turning back to what is true about God even while it describes what feels true. Name that some in the room may be praying verse 1 now.
Psalm 22:12-21
Bulls, lions, dogs, bones and garments
Read verses 12-21 without stopping. Explain the animal images: strong bulls of Bashan, a rich grazing land, a roaring lion, dogs, wild oxen called unicorns in the King James. Then show the body language: poured out like water, bones out of joint, a heart like wax, a tongue stuck to the jaw. Point to the verses the Gospels saw fulfilled at the crucifixion: the pierced hands and feet, and the garments divided by lot in John 19:23-24. Teach this with restraint; the details are painful enough without dramatising them.
Psalm 22:22-31
The lament opens into a congregation
Now teach the turn. Some translations make the end of verse 21 a cry of answer, thou hast heard me, and the King James keeps it as heard me from the horns. From verse 22 the psalm is praise. Explain how the circle widens: brethren, the seed of Jacob, the great congregation, the meek who eat, all the ends of the world, the rich, the dying, a seed to come. Show Hebrews 2:11-12, where Christ calls us brethren with this verse. End with he hath done this, which some hear echoed in Jesus' word, It is finished.
Psalm 69:1-12
No foothold in the mire
Turn to Psalm 69. Explain the water and mire of verses 1-3 as the feeling of sinking with nowhere to stand, and verse 3's weariness, a dried throat, failing eyes. Then read the causes: enemies without cause, being made to repay what he did not steal, estrangement from his own family, mockery for fasting and sackcloth, songs of drunkards. Show that he admits his own foolishness in verse 5, so he is not claiming perfection. Then teach verse 9 as the key to his suffering, with John 2:17 and Romans 15:3.
Psalm 69:13-28
Gall, vinegar and a dangerous prayer
Teach verses 13-21 as pleading: hear me, deliver me, draw near, and the cry of verse 20 for comforters who never came. Then verse 21: gall for food and vinegar to drink, which the Gospels record at the cross in Matthew 27:34 and 48. Then read verses 22-28, the hardest section. Say plainly that these are prayers for judgment on persecutors, spoken to God rather than carried out. Explain that Paul quotes 69:22-23 in Romans 11:9-10 and Peter cites 69:25 of Judas in Acts 1:20. Teach that the psalm hands vengeance to God.
Psalm 69:29-36
Praise after the flood
End with verse 29: I am poor and sorrowful. The speaker has not been made strong by his anger. Then come praise with a song, which pleases God more than a sacrificed ox, the humble made glad, the LORD who hears the poor and does not despise his prisoners, heaven, earth and seas praising, and Zion rebuilt for those who love his name. Teach this last so that the class sees the psalm move through its darkest requests and out the other side into worship. Close the lesson by setting Psalm 22:24 beside 69:33.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Jesus quoting Psalm 22 means God really abandoned him in every sense."
Jesus prayed "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (22:1; Matthew 27:46) and truly bore the weight of sin and its separation. Christian traditions explain this mystery in different ways, and the lesson does not need to settle them. What the psalm itself shows is that the cry is a prayer to my God, and that the same psalm says God "hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted" (22:24). Teach the cry and the answer together.
"A Christian should never pray like Psalm 69:22-28."
These verses are honest prayers from someone persecuted without cause, handing judgment to God rather than taking it. They do not authorise personal revenge; Jesus tells us to bless those who curse us in Luke 6:28, and Romans 12:19 says vengeance belongs to God. Praying Psalm 69 can be the way a wounded person gives their anger to God so they do not act on it. The New Testament itself quotes these verses as God's judgment in Romans 11 and Acts 1.
"If I feel forsaken by God, I must have lost my faith."
The sufferer of Psalm 22 feels forsaken and still calls God "My God", and keeps crying day and night in 22:2. Psalm 69:3 says "mine eyes fail while I wait for my God", waiting while he is exhausted. Feeling abandoned is part of the experience of God's people in Scripture. Bring that feeling to God in prayer, as these psalms do, and seek out others who can pray with you.
"These psalms were written about Jesus, so they do not describe David's own suffering."
Both psalms are headed as psalms of David and describe real suffering, including in 69:5 his own foolishness and sins, which cannot be said of Christ. The New Testament writers hear in them a pattern that reaches its fullness in Jesus: the mocked righteous sufferer who is vindicated. Teach David's anguish as real, and then show how the Gospels see Christ in it.
Learning objectives
- Trace the movement in Psalm 22 from forsakenness and mockery to answered prayer, public praise, and worldwide worship.
- Identify the concrete forms of suffering in Psalm 69, including sinking, exhaustion, false hatred, reproach, isolation, gall, and vinegar.
- Compare how mockers speak in Psalm 22:7–8 and how reproach and false accusation function in Psalm 69.
- Explain why both psalms continue speaking to God even when divine nearness is not felt.
- Identify New Testament passages that explicitly quote or clearly reuse lines from Psalms 22 and 69.
- Distinguish the original suffering-prayer setting from later messianic fulfillment without treating either layer as disposable.
Teacher preparation
- Read Psalm 22 in two broad movements, verses 1–21 and 22–31, and mark the turn from repeated pleas for nearness to the declaration that God has heard.
- Mark every bodily or animal image in Psalm 22: worm, bulls, lion, dogs, poured-out water, bones, heart like wax, dry strength, hands and feet, garments.
- Read Psalm 69 with a second list for social suffering: hated without cause, reproach, estrangement, mockery at the gate, songs of drunkards, and absence of comforters.
- Prepare the major New Testament links: Matthew 27:35, 39–46; John 2:17; John 15:25; John 19:28–29; Romans 15:3; Hebrews 2:12.
- Be ready to note the textual discussion around Psalm 22:16.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Psalm 22 names abandonment, mockery, bodily danger, enemies, garments, and praise; Psalm 69 adds drowning, reproach, gall, vinegar, and rescue.
Scripture-supported
The New Testament directly applies multiple lines from Psalms 22 and 69 to Jesus' suffering.
Strong inference
The movement in both psalms strongly suggests that faithful lament is not unbelief.
Possible or traditional reading
Psalm 22:16 has a well-known textual dispute.
Limit
Neither psalm requires every detail to have only one referent or licenses private use of Psalm 69's imprecations.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Psalm 22 opens with My God twice before asking why hast thou forsaken me.
What a good answer contains
The psalm begins, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (22:1). The sufferer feels abandoned and says so, yet he says it to God and calls him my God twice. A good answer sees that relationship is held onto in the very sentence that describes its absence, and that verse 2 keeps praying day and night. Jesus cried these words from the cross in Matthew 27:46. A weak answer either softens the cry, as if he did not really feel forsaken, or treats it as the end of faith rather than an act of it.
Show teacher guidance
The cry is severe but remains prayer; My God preserves relationship even while the sufferer describes felt abandonment.
2. How do the mockers in Psalm 22:7–8 use the sufferer's trust in the LORD against him?
What a good answer contains
They mock the trust itself: "All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him" (22:7-8). A strong answer sees that the cruelty is theological; they turn his faith into evidence against him. Matthew 27:43 records the chief priests saying almost the same words at the cross. A weak answer misses that the attack targets the relationship with God, not only his body.
Show teacher guidance
The mockers weaponize his trust itself, turning confidence in the LORD into the taunt that God should now deliver him.
3. What changes at Psalm 22:22, and how far does the praise eventually spread?
What a good answer contains
At verse 22 lament becomes praise: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." The reason follows in verse 24: God "hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted." Then the praise widens to Israel, the great congregation, the meek, "All the ends of the world" (22:27), the prosperous and the dying, and "a people that shall be born" (22:31). A good answer traces the circles outward. Hebrews 2:12 quotes 22:22 of Christ. A weak answer stops at personal relief.
Show teacher guidance
The voice moves into declaring God's name among brethren and praising in the congregation.
4. Psalm 69 uses water and mire before it uses courtroom or mockery language.
What a good answer contains
The psalm opens in water: "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing" (69:1-2). Only later come the enemies who hate him without a cause (69:4) and the mockery at the gate (69:12). A strong answer sees that the water pictures being overwhelmed, without footing, before any explanation is given, which is how distress often feels. A weak answer treats the water as literal drowning or rushes to the enemies and misses the emotional truth of the opening.
Show teacher guidance
Verses 1–2 picture no standing place, deep mire, and overflowing waters.
5. How does Psalm 69:9 connect zeal for God's house with reproach, and where does the New Testament reuse each half of the verse?
What a good answer contains
"For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me" (69:9). His love for God's house has made him a target; the insults meant for God land on him. John 2:17 recalls the first half when Jesus cleanses the temple, and Romans 15:3 quotes the second half to show that Christ did not please himself. A good answer names both uses. A weak answer misses that the sufferer's shame comes from his loyalty to God, not from his own wrongdoing.
Show teacher guidance
John 2:17 cites zeal for thine house, while Romans 15:3 cites the reproaches of those who reproached thee.
6. Both psalms contain severe suffering, yet both end beyond the individual.
What a good answer contains
Psalm 22 ends with the nations worshipping and future generations told "that he hath done this" (22:31). Psalm 69, after its harsh requests, ends with praise: "I will praise the name of God with a song" (69:30), the humble made glad, and God saving Zion so that "they that love his name shall dwell therein" (69:36). A strong answer sees that both sufferers become a blessing to others; their pain is not wasted. A weak answer treats the endings as tacked on and ignores how the community gains from one person's rescue.
Show teacher guidance
Psalm 22 reaches the congregation, nations, prosperous and dying people, and future generations.
Responsible application
Let lament use nouns
Use the two psalms to improve a fictional prayer that only says things are hard.
Do not confuse complaint with departure
Use Psalm 22:1–5 and Psalm 69:13–18 to show how a prayer can state divine distance without ceasing to appeal to God's holiness, mercy, truth, and past faithfulness.
Follow suffering into public praise
Use both psalms' closing praise sections so a lesson on suffering reaches communal testimony without rushing past lament.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
The cry
Read 22:1-2 and Matthew 27:45-46. Take question one and allow a moment of silence.
The mockers
Read 22:6-18 and take question two with Matthew 27:39-43. Note the garments and John 19:24.
The congregation
Read 22:22-31 and take question three. Address confusion one briefly.
Mire and zeal
Read 69:1-9 and take questions four and five with John 2:17.
The hard prayer and the end
Read 69:20-36. Address confusion two with care, then take question six.
Response
Read the key verse together and invite each person to bring one heavy thing to God in silence before you pray.
90 minutes
When God feels far
Ask without requiring answers whether people have ever felt forsaken. Read 22:1-2 and Matthew 27:46.
My God inside the why
Read 22:1-11 and take question one. Address confusion three for any who are struggling.
The cross in the psalm
Read 22:12-21 and the crucifixion in Matthew 27:35-46 and John 19:23-24. Take question two and confusion one.
Praise widens
Read 22:22-31 and Hebrews 2:11-12. Take question three. Draw expanding circles on the board.
Sinking
Read 69:1-12 and take question four. Then take question five with John 2:13-17 and Romans 15:1-3.
The prayer for judgment
Read 69:13-28 slowly. Note the vinegar of 69:21 and Matthew 27:34. Address confusions two and four, with Romans 12:17-21.
Praise after the flood
Read 69:29-36 and take question six. Set 22:24 beside 69:33.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together. Invite anyone who wants prayer to stay, and close by praying 22:24.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Do not read the most graphic verses. Use 22:1, 22:24 and 69:30. Ask children whether they have ever felt alone or that nobody was listening. Tell them that Jesus prayed this psalm on the cross when he was suffering for us, and that God heard. Teach 22:24 in simple words: God does not turn away from people who are hurting. End with a song of praise as in 69:30.
Youth
Start with the experience of feeling abandoned or mocked, and read 22:7-8 and 69:12. Ask how it feels when someone mocks what you believe. Show the crucifixion parallels in Matthew 27 and let them discover how many there are. Treat 69:22-28 honestly: is it right to tell God you are angry at people who hurt you. Be ready to follow up with anyone who is being bullied.
Adults
Give time to the use of these psalms in the passion narratives and in Hebrews 2, Romans 11 and 15, John 2 and Acts 1. Discuss the theology and pastoral use of imprecation without resolving it too quickly. Allow adults who are grieving, depressed or estranged from family, as in 69:8, to hear that their experience is in Scripture. Close with the widening praise of 22:27-31.
One to one
Ask whether they have ever felt like 22:1 or 69:2. Do not rush to the endings. Read the verse they identify with, and stay with it. Then read 22:24 as God's word to them. If they are angry at someone, let them pray 69 honestly to God and talk about handing vengeance to him. Offer to pray with them again.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Psalms 22 and 69
The passage in brief
Psalms 22 and 69 are prayers of a righteous sufferer who is mocked, rejected and overwhelmed. Psalm 22 begins with the cry Jesus prayed on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, and describes scorn, pain and pierced hands and feet, then turns to praise that reaches all nations and future generations. Psalm 69 cries from deep waters and mire, speaks of zeal for God's house and vinegar given to drink, hands judgment to God, and ends in thanksgiving.
A verse to keep
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
Psalms 22:24 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why do you think Jesus prayed the first words of Psalm 22 on the cross?
What does 22:24 say about how God sees people who suffer?
How might praying honestly to God about someone who hurt you, as in Psalm 69, help you not to take revenge?
This week
If God feels far away this week, pray Psalm 22:1 aloud to him, and then read 22:24 as his answer.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
