Psalms 109

1 O God, whom I praise, don’t stand silent and aloof

2 while the wicked slander me and tell lies about me.

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

4 I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations even as I am praying for them!

5 They repay evil for good, and hatred for my love.

6 They say, “Get an evil person to turn against him. Send an accuser to bring him to trial.

7 When his case comes up for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins.

8 Let his years be few; let someone else take his position.

9 May his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.

10 May his children wander as beggars and be driven from their ruined homes.

11 May creditors seize his entire estate, and strangers take all he has earned.

12 Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children.

13 May all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in the next generation.

14 May the LORD never forget the sins of his fathers; may his mother’s sins never be erased from the record.

15 May the LORD always remember these sins, and may his name disappear from human memory.

16 For he refused all kindness to others; he persecuted the poor and needy, and he hounded the brokenhearted to death.

17 He loved to curse others; now you curse him. He never blessed others; now don’t you bless him.

18 Cursing is as natural to him as his clothing, or the water he drinks, or the rich food he eats.

19 Now may his curses return and cling to him like clothing; may they be tied around him like a belt.”

20 May those curses become the LORD ’s punishment for my accusers who speak evil of me.

21 But deal well with me, O Sovereign LORD, for the sake of your own reputation! Rescue me because you are so faithful and good.

22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is full of pain.

23 I am fading like a shadow at dusk; I am brushed off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak from fasting, and I am skin and bones.

25 I am a joke to people everywhere; when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn.

26 Help me, O LORD my God! Save me because of your unfailing love.

27 Let them see that this is your doing, that you yourself have done it, LORD .

28 Then let them curse me if they like, but you will bless me! When they attack me, they will be disgraced! But I, your servant, will go right on rejoicing!

29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may their humiliation cover them like a cloak.

30 But I will give repeated thanks to the LORD, praising him to everyone.

31 For he stands beside the needy, ready to save them from those who condemn them.

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]. Hebrew lacks They say.
• [b]. As in Greek version; Hebrew reads and seek.

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.