Psalms 109:18

18 He dressed up in curses like a fine suit of clothes; he drank curses, took his baths in curses.

Psalms 109:18 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 109:18

As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,
&c.] He was full of it; his mouth was full of cursing and bitterness; it was visible in him, easy to be discerned; he took pride as well as pleasure in it, it was in his esteem an ornament to him, as his clothes were. The Syriac version renders it, "as armour"; as if it was a protection to him, or he thought it to be so.

So let it come into his bowels like water;
the meaning is, let the wrath of God and the curse of the law come into his conscience, and make sad work there, and fill him with dread and terror, and that in great abundance, and with great force; like a flood of waters that carry all before it; or like the waters of jealousy which made the belly to swell and the thigh to rot; or the flying roll of the curse, which entering into the house of the sinner destroyed it, and all in it, ( Numbers 5:22 ) ( Zechariah 5:4 ) .

And like oil into his bones;
which is more piercing and penetrating than water; and signifies the inward and quick sense he should have of his sins, and of the wrath of God for them; see ( Job 20:11 ) .

Psalms 109:18 In-Context

16 That's all he deserves since he was never once kind, hounded the afflicted and heartbroken to their graves.
17 Since he loved cursing so much, let curses rain down; Since he had no taste for blessing, let blessings flee far from him.
18 He dressed up in curses like a fine suit of clothes; he drank curses, took his baths in curses.
19 So give him a gift - a costume of curses; he can wear curses every day of the week!
20 That's what they'll get, those out to get me - an avalanche of just deserts from God.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.