Psalm 109:1-6

Prayer against an Enemy

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.

1 God of my praise, do not be 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.^[a]

4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I continue to pray.^[b]

5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.^[c]

6 Set a wicked person over him; let an accuser^[d] stand at his right hand.^[e]

Psalm 109:1-6 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Ps 35:7; 69:4; Jn 15:25
• [b] Lit but I, prayer
• [c] Ps 35:11-13; 38:20; Pr 17:13
• [d] Or adversary
• [e] Zch 3:1