Psalms 109

1 O God, whom I praise, do not turn a deaf ear to me.

2 Wicked and deceitful people have opened their mouths against me. They speak against me with lying tongues.

3 They surround me with hateful words. They fight against me for no reason.

4 In return for my love, they accuse me, but I pray for them.

5 They reward me with evil instead of good and with hatred instead of love.

6 [I said,] "Appoint the evil one to oppose him. Let Satan stand beside him.

7 When he stands trial, let him be found guilty. Let his prayer be considered sinful.

8 Let his days be few [in number]. Let someone else take his position.

9 "Let his children become fatherless and his wife a widow.

10 Let his children wander around and beg. Let them seek help far from their ruined homes.

11 Let a creditor take everything he owns. Let strangers steal what he has worked for.

12 Let no one be kind to him anymore. Let no one show any pity to his fatherless children.

13 Let his descendants be cut off and their family name be wiped out by the next generation.

14 Let the LORD remember the guilt of his ancestors and not wipe out his mother's sin.

15 Let their guilt and sin always remain on record in front of the LORD. Let the LORD remove every memory of him from the earth,

16 because he did not remember to be kind. "He drove oppressed, needy, and brokenhearted people to their graves.

17 He loved to put curses [on others], so he, too, was cursed. He did not like to bless [others], so he never received a blessing.

18 He wore cursing as though it were clothing, so cursing entered his body like water and his bones like oil.

19 Let cursing be his clothing, a belt he always wears."

20 This is how the LORD rewards those who accuse me, those who say evil things against me.

21 O LORD Almighty, deal with me out of the goodness of your name. Rescue me because of your mercy.

22 I am oppressed and needy. I can feel the pain in my heart.

23 I fade away like a lengthening shadow. I have been shaken off like a grasshopper.

24 My knees give way because I have been fasting. My body has become lean, without any fat.

25 I have become the victim of my enemies' insults. They look at me and shake their heads.

26 Help me, O LORD my God. Save me because of your mercy.

27 Then they will know that this is your doing, that you, O LORD, are the one who saved me.

28 They may curse, but you will bless. Let those who attack me be ashamed, but let me rejoice.

29 Let those who accuse me wear disgrace as though it were clothing. Let them be wrapped in their shame as though it were a robe.

30 With my mouth I will give many thanks to the LORD. I will praise him among many people,

31 because he stands beside needy people to save them from those who would 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.

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.