Psalms 109:17-27

17 He loved cursing; may it recoil on him! He didn't like blessing; may it stay far from him!

18 He clothed himself with cursing as routinely as with his coat; May it enter inside him as easily as water, as easily as oil into his bones.

19 May it cling to him like the coat he wears, like the belt he wraps around himself."

20 This is what my adversaries want ADONAI to do, those who speak evil against me.

21 But you, God, ADONAI, treat me as your name demands; rescue me, because your grace is good.

22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart within me is wounded.

23 Like a lengthening evening shadow, I am gone; I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak from lack of food, my flesh wastes away for lack of nourishment.

25 I have become the object of their taunts; when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, ADONAI, my God! Save me, in keeping with your grace;

27 so that they will know that this comes from your hand, that you, ADONAI, have done it.

Psalms 109:17-27 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.