Psalms 109

1 I praise you, God; don't remain silent!

2 Wicked people and liars have attacked me. They tell lies about me,

3 and they say evil things about me, attacking me for no reason.

4 They oppose me, even though I love them and have prayed for them.

5 They pay me back evil for good and hatred for love.

6 Choose some corrupt judge to try my enemy, and let one of his own enemies accuse him.

7 May he be tried and found guilty; may even his prayer be considered a crime!

8 May his life soon be ended; ¹ may someone else take his job!

9 May his children become orphans, and his wife a widow!

10 May his children be homeless beggars; may they be driven from the ruins they live in!

11 May his creditors take away all his property, and may strangers get everything he worked for.

12 May no one ever be kind to him or care for the orphans he leaves behind.

13 May all his descendants die, and may his name be forgotten in the next generation.

14 May the Lord remember the evil of his ancestors and never forgive his mother's sins.

15 May the Lord always remember their sins, but may they themselves be completely forgotten!

16 That man never thought of being kind; he persecuted and killed the poor, the needy, and the helpless.

17 He loved to curse - may he be cursed! He hated to give blessings - may no one bless him!

18 He cursed as naturally as he dressed himself; may his own curses soak into his body like water and into his bones like oil!

19 May they cover him like clothes and always be around him like a belt!

20 Lord, punish my enemies in that way - those who say such evil things against me!

21 But my Sovereign Lord, help me as you have promised, and rescue me because of the goodness of your love.

22 I am poor and needy; I am hurt to the depths of my heart.

23 Like an evening shadow I am about to vanish; I am blown away like an insect.

24 My knees are weak from lack of food; I am nothing but skin and bones.

25 When people see me, they laugh at me; ² they shake their heads in scorn.

26 Help me, O Lord my God; because of your constant love, save me!

27 Make my enemies know that you are the one who saves me.

28 They may curse me, but you will bless me. May my persecutors be defeated, and may I, your servant, be glad.

29 May my enemies be covered with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

30 I will give loud thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the assembly of the people,

31 because he defends the poor and saves them from those who condemn them to death.

Psalms 109 Commentary

Chapter 109

David complains of his enemies. (1-5) He prophesies their destruction. (6-20) Prayers and praises. (21-31)

1-5. It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers, that whoever is against them, God is for them; and to him they may apply as to one pleased to concern himself for them. David's enemies laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out of it.

Verses 6-20 The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, "Go, ye cursed," upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.

Verses 21-31 The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed; nay, whom he has blessed? He pleads God's glory, and the honour of his name. Save me, not according to my merit, for I pretend to none, but according to thy-mercy. He concludes with the joy of faith, in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. Let all that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him. Jesus, unjustly put to death, and now risen again, is an Advocate and Intercessor for his people, ever ready to appear on their behalf against a corrupt world, and the great accuser.

Cross References

• 1. 109.8Acts 1.20.
• 2. 109.25Matthew 27.39;Mark 15.29.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Probable text] have prayed for them; [Hebrew unclear.]
• [b]. [One ancient translation] be driven from; [Hebrew] seek.
• [c]. [One ancient translation] May my persecutors be defeated; [Hebrew] They persecuted me and were defeated.

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, concerning Judas the betrayer of Christ, as is certain from Acts 1:16 hence it is used to be called by the ancients the Iscariotic psalm. Whether the occasion of it was the rebellion of Absalom, as some, or the persecution of Saul, as Kimchi; and whoever David might have in view particularly, whether Ahithophel, or Doeg the Edomite, as is most likely; yet it is evident that the Holy Ghost foresaw the sin of Judas, and prophesies of that, and of the ruin and misery that should come upon him; for the imprecations in this psalm are no other than predictions of future events, and so are not to be drawn into an example by men; nor do they breathe out anything contrary to the spirit of Christianity, but are proofs of it, since what is here predicted has been exactly accomplished. The title in the Syriac version is, "a psalm of David when they created Absalom king without his knowledge, and for this cause he was slain; but to us it expounds the sufferings of the Christ of God;" and indeed he is the person that is all along speaking in this psalm.