Psalms 109

The Song of the Slandered

1

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1 O God of my praise, be not silent.

2 For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.

3 They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.

4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

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

6 Set over him a wicked man; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.

8 May his days be few; may another take his position. ^[a]

9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

10 May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance ^[b] far from their ruined homes.

11 May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

12 May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children.

13 May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.

14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

15 May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.

16 For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death.

17 The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

18 The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.

19 May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.

20 May this be the LORD’s reward to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me.

21 But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.

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

23 I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.

25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to Your loving devotion.

27 Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it.

28 Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

30 With my mouth I will thank the LORD profusely; I will praise Him in the presence of many.

31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.

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]. Cited in Acts 1:20
• [b]. Hebrew; LXX may they be driven

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.