Psalm 69:22–23

Let Their Table Become a Snare

Quoted by the apostles in Romans 11:9–10, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

Let their table before them be for a snare, and for a recompence, and for a stumbling-block. Let their eyes be darkened that they should not see; and bow down their back continually.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

Quoted in Romans 11:9–10

Paul’s Old Testament

And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

Your KJV reads: the Hebrew “make their loins continually to shake” in the Psalm, and the Greek “bow down their back alway” in Romans.

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Romans 11:10 KJV

Paul quotes David to explain why much of Israel did not see their Messiah.

What the Psalm Says

Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
Psalm 69:23 KJV

The first half matches. The second half does not. In the Psalm the loins shake. In Romans the back is bent.

What Changed

Two small things. The Greek has “bow down their back” where the Hebrew has “make their loins shake.” And the Greek has “a recompence” where the Hebrew has “for their welfare.” Paul followed the Greek in both.

The pictures are close. A shaking body and a bent back both show a man broken under a heavy load.

A Messiah Psalm

Just before these lines, the Psalm says: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21). That was fulfilled at the cross (Matthew 27:34). The curse falls on those who turned from Him. Paul adds that their fall opened the door to the Gentiles, who are grafted into Israel’s own olive tree (Romans 11:17), not planted in a new one.

Purpose of the Change

No motive evident: wording variation only. It matters because Paul quoted the Greek wording, which is why your KJV reads one way in Psalms and another in Romans.

The Bottom Line

The Hebrew shakes the loins and the Greek bends the back. Paul quoted the Greek. The judgment is the same.

The same Psalm prays, “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living” (Psalm 69:28). At the end, Messiah makes the opposite promise to the faithful: “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:5).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

Same Letters, Different Word

“For their welfare” and “for a recompence” come from the same Hebrew letters. Read with one set of vowels, the word means peace or welfare. Read with another, it means repayment. The Greek translators read it the second way. No letter was changed.

Not Forever

Paul quotes the curse, then asks: “Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid” (Romans 11:11). The darkened eyes are not the end of Israel’s story. The olive tree still stands, and broken branches can be grafted in again.