Psalms 109

1 ¹Be not silent, O ²God of my praise!

2 For wicked and ³deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.

3 They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me ⁴without cause.

4 In return for my love they ⁵accuse me, but I ⁶give myself to prayer.^[a]

5 So they ⁷reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

6 ⁸Appoint a wicked man ⁹against him; let an accuser stand ¹⁰at his right hand.

7 When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his ¹¹prayer be counted as sin!

8 May his ¹²days be few; may ¹³another take his ¹⁴office!

9 May his ¹⁵children be fatherless and his wife a widow!

10 May his children ¹⁶wander about and beg, ¹⁷seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!

11 May ¹⁸the creditor seize all that he has; may ¹⁹strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!

12 Let there be none to ²⁰extend kindness to him, nor any to ²¹pity his fatherless children!

13 May his ²²posterity be cut off; may his ²³name be blotted out in the second generation!

14 May ²⁴the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be ²⁵blotted out!

15 ²⁶Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may ²⁷cut off the memory of them from the earth!

16 For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued ²⁸the poor and needy and ²⁹the brokenhearted, to put them to death.

17 ³⁰He loved to curse; let curses come^[b] upon him! He did not delight in blessing; may it be far^[c] from him!

18 He ³¹clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it ³²soak^[d] into his body like water, like oil into his bones!

19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around him, like a belt that he puts on every day!

20 May this be the reward of my ³³accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!

21 But you, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf ³⁴for your name's sake; because your ³⁵steadfast love is good, deliver me!

22 For I am ³⁶poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me.

23 I am gone like ³⁷a shadow at evening; I am ³⁸shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak ³⁹through fasting; my ⁴⁰body has become gaunt, with no fat.

25 I am ⁴¹an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they ⁴²wag their heads.

26 ⁴³Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to your steadfast love!

27 Let them ⁴⁴know that this is your hand; you, O LORD, have done it!

28 ⁴⁵Let them curse, but you will bless! They arise and are put to shame, but ⁴⁶your servant will be glad!

29 May my accusers be ⁴⁷clothed with dishonor; may they ⁴⁸be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!

30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will ⁴⁹praise him in the midst of the throng.

31 For he stands ⁵⁰at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

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.

Cross References

• 1. See Psalms 28:1
• 2. Deuteronomy 10:21; [Psalms 71:6; Jeremiah 17:14]
• 3. Psalms 52:4
• 4. See Psalms 69:4
• 5. Psalms 38:20
• 6. [Psalms 69:13]
• 7. See Psalms 35:12
• 8. For ver. 6-15, see Psalms 35:4-8; Psalms 69:22-28
• 9. [1 Chronicles 21:1; Zechariah 3:1]
• 10. Job 30:12
• 11. Proverbs 28:9; [Proverbs 15:8; Proverbs 21:27]
• 12. [Psalms 55:23]
• 13. Cited Acts 1:20
• 14. Numbers 4:16; [1 Chronicles 24:3]
• 15. Exodus 22:24
• 16. [Genesis 4:12]; See Psalms 59:15
• 17. [Psalms 37:25]
• 18. [Deuteronomy 28:43, 44]
• 19. [Deuteronomy 28:43, 44]
• 20. [Psalms 36:10]
• 21. [Job 5:4]
• 22. See Psalms 21:10
• 23. Proverbs 10:7
• 24. Exodus 20:5
• 25. Nehemiah 4:5; Jeremiah 18:23
• 26. [Psalms 90:8]
• 27. Psalms 34:16
• 28. ver. 22; Psalms 40:17
• 29. See Psalms 34:18
• 30. [Proverbs 14:14; Ezekiel 35:6]
• 31. [ver. 29; Psalms 73:6]
• 32. [Numbers 5:22]
• 33. ver. 6, 29
• 34. [Jeremiah 14:7]; See Psalms 23:3
• 35. Psalms 69:16; [Psalms 63:3]
• 36. ver. 16
• 37. See Psalms 102:11
• 38. Exodus 10:19; [Nehemiah 5:13; Job 38:13]
• 39. Psalms 35:13
• 40. [Job 16:8]
• 41. Psalms 22:6; Psalms 69:19
• 42. See Psalms 22:7
• 43. Psalms 119:86
• 44. [Job 37:7]
• 45. [2 Samuel 16:12]
• 46. [Isaiah 65:14]
• 47. ver. 18; See Job 8:22
• 48. Psalms 71:13; [Psalms 35:26]
• 49. [Psalms 22:25]
• 50. ver. 6; See Psalms 16:8

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew but I am prayer
• [b]. Revocalization; Masoretic Text curses have come
• [c]. Revocalization; Masoretic Text it is far
• [d]. Revocalization; Masoretic Text it has soaked

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.