Psalms 109:1-8

1 To victory, the psalm of David. God, hold thou not still my praising; (To victory, the song of David. God of my praises, be thou not silent;)

2 for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the guileful man, is opened on me. They spake against me with a guileful tongue, (for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the deceitful, were opened against me. Yea, they spoke against me with their lying tongues,)

3 and they (en)compassed me with words of hatred; and fought against me without cause. (and they surrounded me with hateful words; and fought against me for no reason.)

4 For that thing that they should love me (for), they backbited me; but I prayed (for them).

5 And they setted against me evils for goods (And they paid me back evil for good); and hatred for my love.

6 Ordain thou a sinner on him; and the devil stand on his right half. (Ordain thou a sinner over my enemy; and let the devil stand at his right hand.)

7 When he is deemed, go he out condemned; and his prayer be made into sin. (When he is judged, let him go out condemned; and let his prayer be made into sin.)

8 His days be made few; and another take his bishopric. (Let his days be made few; and another take his office.)

Psalms 109:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

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.