Tehillim 109

1 09 (For the one directing. Of Dovid. Mizmor) Hold not Thy peace, O Elohei tehillati;

2 For the mouth of the rasha and the mouth of the mirmah are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a leshon sheker (a lying tongue).

3 They surrounded me also with divrei sinah (words of hatred); and attacked me without cause.

4 In return for my ahavah they are my adversaries; but I give myself unto tefillah (prayer).

5 Thus they have laid upon me ra’ah for tovah, and sinah for my ahavah.

6 Set Thou a rasha (wicked man) over him; and let Satan (the Accuser) stand at his yamin (right hand).

7 When he shall be tried, let him be in the judgment condemned; and let his tefillah (prayer) become sin.

8 Let his yamim be few; and let another take his pekuddat [See Ac 1:20 OJBC].

9 Let his banim be yetomim, and his isha an almanah.

10 Let his banim be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them seek from their ruins.

11 Let the nosheh (creditor) seize all that he hath; and let the zarim (strangers) plunder his labor.

12 Let there be none to extend chesed unto him; neither let there be any to favor his yetomim.

13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the dor acher (generation following) let their shem be blotted out.

14 Let the avon of his avot be remembered before Hashem; and let not the chattat immo be blotted out.

15 Let them be before Hashem tamid, that He may cut off the memory of them from ha’aretz.

16 Because he remembered not to show chesed, but persecuted the ish oni and the evyon, that he might even slay the nikheh levav (brokenhearted person).

17 As he loved kelalah (cursing), so it came on him; as he delighted not in brocha (blessing), so it was far from him.

18 As he clothed himself with kelalah as with his garment, so let it come into his inward parts like mayim, and like shemen into his atzmot.

19 Let it be unto him like a beged which covereth him, and for a belt wherewith he is girded tamid (continually).

20 This is the reward of mine adversaries from Hashem, and of them that speak rah against my nefesh.

21 But Thou O Hashem Adonoi, do with me for the sake of Thy Name; because Thy chesed is tov, deliver Thou me.

22 For I am oni and evyon, and my lev is wounded within me.

23 I am gone like a lengthening tzel (shadow); I am shaken off like the arbeh.

24 My knees are weak from a tzom; and my basar faileth of fatness.

25 I became also a cherpah (reproach) unto them; when they looked upon me, they shaked their heads.

26 Help me, O Hashem Elohai; O hoshi’eini (save me) according to Thy chesed;

27 That they may know that this is Thy Yad; that Thou, Hashem, hast done it.

28 Let them make kelalah (curse), but do Thou make brocha; when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let Thy eved rejoice.

29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own shame, as with a me’il (cloak).

30 I will greatly praise Hashem with my mouth; and, I will praise Him among the multitude.

31 For He shall stand at the yamin (right hand) of the evyon (needy), to save him from those that judge with condemnation his nefesh [cf Mt 9:10-11].

Tehillim 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.