Messianic Prophecies
Gall and Vinegar
30-second summary
Psalm 69 laments a righteous sufferer given 'gall for my food' and 'vinegar' for his thirst. Matthew's Passion account has Jesus first offered wine mixed with gall, which he refuses, and then, just before he dies, sour wine on a sponge, which he accepts -- John stating this was done 'that the scripture might be fulfilled.'
Scripture
And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Et dederunt in escam meam fel, et in siti mea potaverunt me aceto.
And they gave him wine to drink mingled with gall. And when he had tasted, he would not drink. ... And immediately one of them running took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar; and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
Et dederunt ei vinum bibere cum felle mistum; et cum gustasset, noluit bibere. ... Et continuo currens unus ex eis, acceptam spongiam implevit aceto, et imposuit arundini, et dabat ei bibere.
And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh; but he took it not.
Et dabant ei bibere myrrhatum vinum: et non accepit.
Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to his mouth. Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.
Postea sciens Iesus quia iam omnia consummata sunt, ut consummaretur Scriptura, dicit: Sitio. Vas ergo positum erat aceto plenum. Illi autem spongiam plenam aceto, hyssopo circumponentes, obtulerunt ori eius. Cum ergo accepisset Iesus acetum, dixit: Consummatum est. Et inclinato capite tradidit spiritum.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
- Given
- Traditionally c. 1000-950 BC (Davidic authorship, per the psalm's title); already fixed scripture, translated into Greek in the Septuagint, by the second century BC at the latest -- centuries before the Passion either way.
- Fulfilled
- c. AD 33 (Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem)
Before the crucifixion, Jesus was offered wine -- Matthew 27:34 names it 'mingled with gall,' echoing the Septuagint's own wording of Psalm 68:22; Mark 15:23 names the same offering 'mingled with myrrh' -- and he refused it. Near his death, all four Gospels report a sponge soaked in vinegar raised to his mouth on a reed or hyssop branch, which he accepted just before he died (Matthew 27:48; John 19:28-30). John 19:28 states that this was done 'that the scripture might be fulfilled,' echoing Psalm 69:21's 'gall for my food ... vinegar to drink.'
Why this level?
Psalm 69:21 (Vulgate 68:22) is a fixed textual anchor: its wording -- 'gall for my food ... vinegar to drink' -- was already settled scripture, attested in the Greek Septuagint, by the second century BC at the latest, centuries before the Passion. All four Gospels report a vinegar drink offered to the dying Jesus at Calvary, and Matthew's account of the earlier wine offering uses the Septuagint's own word for 'gall' at Psalm 68:22. The entry's interpretive step -- identifying the crucifixion scenes as the fulfillment John's Gospel itself names ('that the scripture might be fulfilled,' John 19:28) -- is a textual anchor plus an identification the entry draws out, warranting Level 2: solid, pre-Christian textual grounding joined to a fulfillment claim the New Testament text itself makes explicit.
Dig deeper
A lament read as messianic
Psalm 69 (Psalm 68 in the Vulgate/Septuagint numbering) is a lament of a righteous man hated without cause, consumed by zeal for God's house. After Psalm 22, it is the psalm most quoted or echoed in the New Testament (John 2:17; Romans 11:9-10; 15:3; Acts 1:20), and the Church reads it alongside Psalm 22 as a portrait of the Messiah's suffering. Its centerpiece here is verse 21 (Vulgate 68:22): "they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
By the time the psalm was translated into Greek for the Septuagint -- the second century BC at the latest -- it was already fixed, settled scripture, centuries before Jesus was born, let alone crucified.
Fulfilled at Calvary
The Gospels record two drink offerings at the crucifixion. Before it, Jesus was offered wine: Matthew names the added ingredient "gall" (Greek chole, the same word the Septuagint uses at Psalm 68:22), and he refuses it (Matthew 27:34). Mark's parallel names the same offering "wine mingled with myrrh" (Mark 15:23) -- a customary description of the same bitter drink rather than a different event. Near the moment of his death, all four Gospels report a sponge soaked in vinegar (sour wine) raised to his lips on a reed or hyssop branch, which he accepts (Matthew 27:48; John 19:28-30). John states plainly that this was done "that the scripture might be fulfilled" (John 19:28) -- the Church has long read this together with Psalm 22:15's "my strength is dried up," and above all with Psalm 69:21's own pairing of gall and vinegar.
Why this holds up
The wording is precise, not vague. Matthew's Greek for "gall" is the Septuagint's own word from Psalm 68:22, fixed in the text centuries before the event it describes. The vinegar-sponge scene is attested by all four evangelists. And John names the act itself as a deliberate fulfillment of scripture rather than a coincidence noted after the fact. Psalm 69:21 supplies exactly the pairing enacted at the cross: bitterness offered as food, sourness offered as drink -- a detail of the Passion the Church has proclaimed as fulfilled prophecy since the apostolic age.
Keep digging
- Ask Magisterium AI about Psalm 69 in the Passion narratives: https://www.magisterium.com
- Douay-Rheims Psalm 68: https://drbo.org/chapter/21068.htm
- BibleHub, Mark 15:23 alongside Matthew 27:34: https://biblehub.com/mark/15-23.htm
- New Liturgical Movement on the Royal Hours of Good Friday: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2017/04/the-royal-hours-of-good-friday.html
Citations
- Scripture
Psalm 68:22 (DR/Vulgate) = Psalm 69:21 (modern numbering), drbo.org
Supports: Provides the Douay-Rheims text of 'they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.'
- Scripture
Clementine Vulgate, Psalmus 68
Psalmus 68:22, vulgate.org; wording cross-checked against biblehub.com/vul/psalms/69.htm
Supports: Gives the Latin Vulgate wording 'et dederunt in escam meam fel et in siti mea potaverunt me aceto,' independently confirmed on a second Vulgate source.
- Source
BibleHub, Psalm 69:21 cross-reference database
BibleHub.com, Psalm 69:21 interlinear and cross-reference list
Supports: Confirms the verse's Gospel cross-references to Matthew 27:34, Matthew 27:48, and John 19:28-30.
- Scripture
Douay-Rheims and Vulgate, Matthew 27
Matthew 27:34, 48 (Douay-Rheims and Clementine Vulgate)
Supports: Records the two offerings -- wine mixed with gall, refused, and vinegar on a sponge, accepted -- in DR and Latin.
- Scripture
Douay-Rheims and Vulgate, Mark 15:23
Mark 15:23 (Douay-Rheims and Clementine Vulgate; Vulgate cross-checked at biblehub.com/vul/mark/15.htm)
Supports: Gives Mark's parallel description of the pre-crucifixion drink offer as 'wine mingled with myrrh.'
- Scripture
John 19:28-30
Supports: Gives the DR text of Jesus saying 'I thirst' and receiving vinegar, done 'that the scripture might be fulfilled.'
- Scripture
John 19:28-30 (Clementine Vulgate)
Supports: Confirms the Latin wording 'ut consummaretur Scriptura, dicit: Sitio' and the vinegar/hyssop scene.
- Source
Ellicott's Commentary on John 2:17
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers (1878), on John 2:17, via biblehub.com
Supports: Notes that, apart from Psalm 22, 'no part of the Old Testament is so frequently referred to in the New' as Psalm 69.
- Source
Study notes and Ellicott's Commentary on Romans 15:3, via biblehub.com
Supports: Shows Paul applying Psalm 69:9 to Christ, part of the New Testament's wider use of this psalm.
- Source
"Psalm 69," Wikipedia
Supports: Summarizes the psalm's New Testament quotations (Matthew, John, Acts, Romans) and its Vulgate/Septuagint numbering as Psalm 68.
- Church Father
New Liturgical Movement, Royal Hours of Good Friday
"The Royal Hours of Good Friday," New Liturgical Movement, 2017
Supports: Documents that Psalms 68, 69, and 85 are read at the Ninth Hour (None) of the Byzantine Royal Hours on Good Friday, reflecting the Church's traditional reading of this psalm as fulfilled at the Passion.