What is the meaning of Psalm 69:23?

May their eyes be darkened

• David, under the Spirit’s inspiration, calls down God’s just judgment on those who hate and persecute the righteous (Psalm 69:4).

• “Eyes” symbolize perception. When God withdraws light, the result is real, spiritual blindness. Compare Deuteronomy 28:28–29, where covenant breakers are struck with “blindness” and “grop[e] at noon,” and 2 Kings 6:18, where Elisha prays, “Strike this people with blindness.”

• Isaiah 6:9–10 and John 12:40 show the same principle: a hard-hearted people can be given over to blindness they have chosen.

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so they cannot see

• The purpose clause intensifies the plea: judgment is not partial or symbolic; it is effective. They will be unable to discern truth or plot further evil.

• Paul quotes this line in Romans 11:9–10, applying it to Israel’s unbelieving majority: their rejection of Christ results in God allowing their hearts to grow dull “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”

• Proverbs 4:19 observes that “the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble,” echoing the inevitable consequence of refusing light.

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and their backs be bent forever

• A bent back pictures continual burden, bondage, and humiliation. Leviticus 26:13 contrasts God’s saving intent—“I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk upright”—with the curse invoked here.

• The permanence of “forever” underscores the seriousness of persistent rebellion. Psalm 129:3–4 describes furrows plowed on the backs of the oppressed; here the oppressors themselves reap that fate.

• Luke 13:11–16 records Jesus straightening a woman “bent over” by Satan; deliverance is possible, yet those who resist the Lord remain bowed beneath judgment.

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summary

Psalm 69:23 asks God to impose fitting, lasting consequences on hardened enemies of His kingdom: spiritual blindness replacing sight, and enduring bondage replacing prideful strength. The verse affirms that rejecting divine light invites real, tangible judgment—yet it also highlights the holy consistency of God, who gives every person the fruit of the path they choose.