Psalms 109

1 (108-1) <Unto the end, a psalm for David.> (108-2) O God, be not thou silent in my praise:

2 (108-2) for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.

3 (108-3) They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause.

4 (108-4) Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer.

5 (108-5) And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.

6 (108-6) Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand.

7 (108-7) When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin.

8 (108-8) May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take.

9 (108-9) May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

10 (108-10) Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings.

11 (108-11) May the usurer search all his substance: and let strangers plunder his labours.

12 (108-12) May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless offspring.

13 (108-13) May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out.

14 (108-14) May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15 (108-15) May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth:

16 (108-16) because he remembered not to shew mercy,

17 (108-17) But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death.

18 (108-18) And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.

19 (108-19) May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually.

20 (108-20) This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul.

21 (108-21) But thou, O Lord, do with me for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me,

22 (108-22) For I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me.

23 (108-23) I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am shaken off as locusts.

24 (108-24) My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil.

25 (108-25) And I am become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked their heads.

26 (108-26) Help me, O Lord my God; save me; according to thy mercy.

27 (108-27) And let them know that this is thy hand: and that thou, O Lord, hast done it.

28 (108-28) They will curse and thou wilt bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice.

29 (108-29) Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with their confusion as with a double cloak.

30 (108-30) I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will praise him.

31 (108-31) Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors.

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.

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.