Psalm 109:18

18 Yea, he put on cursing as a garment, and it is come as water into his bowels, and as oil into his bones.

Psalm 109:18 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 109:18

As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,
&c.] He was full of it; his mouth was full of cursing and bitterness; it was visible in him, easy to be discerned; he took pride as well as pleasure in it, it was in his esteem an ornament to him, as his clothes were. The Syriac version renders it, "as armour"; as if it was a protection to him, or he thought it to be so.

So let it come into his bowels like water;
the meaning is, let the wrath of God and the curse of the law come into his conscience, and make sad work there, and fill him with dread and terror, and that in great abundance, and with great force; like a flood of waters that carry all before it; or like the waters of jealousy which made the belly to swell and the thigh to rot; or the flying roll of the curse, which entering into the house of the sinner destroyed it, and all in it, ( Numbers 5:22 ) ( Zechariah 5:4 ) .

And like oil into his bones;
which is more piercing and penetrating than water; and signifies the inward and quick sense he should have of his sins, and of the wrath of God for them; see ( Job 20:11 ) .

Psalm 109:18 In-Context

16 Because he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the needy and poor man, and that to slay him that was pricked in the heart.

17 He loved cursing also, and it shall come upon him; and he took not pleasure in blessing, so it shall be removed far from him.

18 Yea, he put on cursing as a garment, and it is come as water into his bowels, and as oil into his bones.

19 Let it be to him as a garment which he puts on, and as a girdle with which he girds himself continually.

20 This is the dealing of the Lord with those who falsely accuse me, and of them that speak evil against my soul.