“They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards .”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 69:12 Mean?
David describes being mocked at two social levels: those who sit in the gate (the civic leaders, the judges, the powerful) speak against him, and the drunkards make songs about him. The opposition comes from both the top (the establishment) and the bottom (the street). David is attacked from every social direction.
The "gate" represents formal power — the place where legal decisions were made, where community leaders gathered, where social status was displayed. The gate-sitters speaking against David means the institutional power structure has turned against him. The opposition isn't just personal; it's official.
The drunkards' songs represent informal mockery — the lowest social tier making entertainment from David's suffering. His name has become the punch line in drinking songs. The most serious form of opposition (institutional) and the most degrading (popular mockery) occur simultaneously. David is formally condemned and informally ridiculed at the same time.
Reflection Questions
- 1.When has opposition come from both 'the gate' (institutional power) and 'the drunkards' (popular mockery) simultaneously?
- 2.What does being the subject of both formal condemnation and drinking songs feel like — and how do you respond?
- 3.How does Jesus' experience (Sanhedrin + soldiers) fulfill this verse's double-direction attack?
- 4.When every social direction opposes you, what does David's response (redirecting to God) model?
Devotional
The leaders talk against me in the courtroom. The drunks sing about me in the bar. David is attacked from the top of society and the bottom — simultaneously, comprehensively, from every social direction.
The gate-sitters represent the institutional opposition: the people with formal power, social standing, and civic authority have turned their speech against David. This isn't gossip from the street. It's the establishment making official pronouncements. The people whose words carry institutional weight are using that weight against David.
The drunkards' songs represent the cultural opposition: David's suffering has become entertainment. His name is the subject of drinking songs — the lowest possible form of public mockery. The most powerful and the most powerless in society have both made David their target: one through official condemnation, the other through popular ridicule.
The combination is the most isolating form of opposition: when both the respectable and the disreputable are against you, there's no social space left to inhabit. The courtroom condemns you. The tavern mocks you. The formal and the informal, the powerful and the powerless, the sober and the drunk — all aligned against one person.
Jesus experienced the same double attack: the Sanhedrin (gate-sitters) condemned him formally, and the soldiers (the ancient equivalent of drunkards) mocked him informally (Mark 15:16-20). The institutional judgment and the street-level ridicule converged on the same person.
When opposition comes from every social direction — when both the powerful and the powerless have made you their target — David's response (verse 13: 'but as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time') is to redirect toward the one audience that matters: God. The gate-sitters and the drunkards have spoken. David speaks to God.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
They that sit in the gate speak against me,.... The princes, magistrates, and judges, who sat in the gates of cities,…
They that sit in the gate speak against me - The gates of cities were places of concourse; places where business was…
In these verses David complains of his troubles, intermixing with those complaints some requests for relief.
I. His…
They that sit in the gate talk of me,
And the songs of them that drink strong drink (make sport of me).
In the gate…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture