Psalms 109

A Prayer for Help against Enemies

1

For the [music] director. A psalm of David.

1 O God of my praise, do not keep silent,

2 for {wicked and deceitful mouths} have opened against me. They speak to me with a lying tongue.

3 They also surround me with words of hate, and fight me without cause.

4 In return for my love they accuse me, though I [am in] prayer.

5 So they inflicted evil against me in return for good and hatred in return for my love.

6 Appoint over him a wicked [man], and let an accuser stand at his right [hand].

7 When he is judged, let him come out guilty, and let his prayer become as sin.

8 Let his days be few; let another take his office.

9 Let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow,

10 and let his children wander aimlessly and beg, and let them plead from their ruins.

11 Let [the] creditor seize all that [is] his, and let strangers plunder his property.

12 Let there be none [who] extend to him loyal love, nor any who pities his orphans.

13 Let his descendants be cut off. Let their name be blotted out in [the] next generation.

14 Let the iniquity of his ancestors be remembered before Yahweh, and let the sin of his mother not be blotted out.

15 Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from [the] earth,

16 because he did not remember to show loyal love, but he pursued anyone, poor or needy or brokenhearted, to slay [them].

17 Because he loved cursing, let it come [upon] him. Because he did not delight in blessing, let it be far from him.

18 Because he wore a curse as his robe, let it enter {his body} like water, and into his bones like oil.

19 May it be for him like a garment [in which] he wraps, and a belt {he continually wears}.

20 Let this [be] the punishment for my accusers from Yahweh, even those who speak evil against my life.

21 But you, O Yahweh my Lord, deal with me for your name's sake. Because your loyal love [is] good, deliver me,

22 for I [am] poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

23 Like a lengthening shadow I am passing away; I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees {buckle} from fasting, and my body grows lean without fat.

25 And [so] I am a disgrace to them; [when] they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O Yahweh my God; save me according to your loyal love,

27 that they may know that this [is] your hand, [that] you, O Yahweh, you have done it.

28 Let them curse, but you bless. [When] they arise, let them be put to shame, that your servant may be glad.

29 Let my accusers put on disgrace, and let them cover [themselves] with their shame as with a robe.

30 I will give thanks to Yahweh exceedingly with my mouth, and in [the] midst of many I will praise him,

31 for he stands at [the] right [hand] of [the] needy, to save [him] from those judging his life.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
• [b]. Literally "a wicked mouth and a deceitful mouth"
• [c]. Or perhaps "I [have] a plea [of innocence]"
• [d]. Or perhaps "plea [of innocence]"
• [e]. Or "posterity"; Hebrew is singular
• [f]. Or "fathers"
• [g]. That is, the family
• [h]. Hebrew "a man"
• [i]. Literally "his inward part"
• [j]. Literally "continually he girds it"
• [k]. Literally "stumble"
• [l]. Hebrew "head"
• [m]. Or "soul"

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.