Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

PSALMS 69:23KJV
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Psalms 69:23 (KJV)

What does Psalms 69:23 mean?

Psalms 69:23 is a plea for the speaker’s enemies to lose their ability to see and to be left weak and unsteady. The speaker asks God to turn their strength against them, expressing the distress and anger of someone who has been cruelly treated.

After the image of a trap in verse 22, the speaker asks that their eyes be darkened and their loins shake continually. The “loins” picture the lower back and hips, an area associated with bodily strength and steady movement.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 69:23

  • “loins” — מָתְנַיִם (motnayim): The word refers to the waist or lower back. In this verse, shaking loins picture a loss of physical strength and steadiness.
  • “continually” — תָּמִיד (tamid): The word can mean “always” or “without interruption.” The speaker asks for the shaking to last rather than be a passing moment.

Why Psalms 69:23 matters

  • The request is directed at those who have harmed the speaker. Earlier, verse 21 says that they gave him bitter food and vinegar to drink when he was thirsty.
  • The verse is part of a direct appeal to God, not a description of the speaker attacking his enemies. The requests continue in verse 24, where the speaker asks God to pour out anger on them.

Where else these words appear

“shake” Hebrew H4571 · used in 6 verses

  • 2 Samuel 22:37 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.
  • Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
  • Psalms 26:1 A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.

“darkened” Hebrew H2821 · used in 18 verses

  • Exodus 10:15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
  • Psalms 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
  • Lamentations 4:8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

“loins” Hebrew H4975 · used in 45 verses

  • Genesis 37:34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
  • Nehemiah 4:18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
  • Jeremiah 48:37 For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

“continually” Hebrew H8548 · used in 103 verses

  • Exodus 25:30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
  • Deuteronomy 11:12 A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
  • Psalms 105:4 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.