Psalms 109

Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries.

1 O ¹God of my praise, ²Do not be silent!

2 For they have opened the wicked and ³deceitful mouth against me; They have spoken against me with a ⁴lying tongue.

3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me ⁵without cause.

4 In return ⁶for my love they act as my accusers; But ⁷I am in prayer.

5 Thus they have ⁸repaid me evil for good And ⁹hatred for my love.

6 Appoint a wicked man over him, And let an ¹⁰accuser stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him ¹¹come forth guilty, And let his ¹²prayer become sin.

8 Let ¹³his days be few; Let ¹⁴another take his office.

9 Let his ¹⁵children be fatherless And his ¹⁶wife a widow.

10 Let his ¹⁷children wander about and beg; And let them ¹⁸seek sustenance far from their ruined homes.

11 Let ¹⁹the creditor seize all that he has, And let ²⁰strangers plunder the product of his labor.

12 Let there be none to ²¹extend lovingkindness to him, Nor ²²any to be gracious to his fatherless children.

13 Let his ²³posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their ²⁴name be blotted out.

14 Let ²⁵the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And do not let the sin of his mother be ²⁶blotted out.

15 Let ²⁷them be before the LORD continually, That He may ²⁸cut off their memory from the earth;

16 Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the ²⁹afflicted and needy man, And the ³⁰despondent in heart, to ³¹put them to death.

17 He also loved cursing, so ³²it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

18 But he ³³clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it ³⁴entered into his body like water And like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be to him as ³⁵a garment with which he covers himself, And for a belt with which he constantly ³⁶girds himself.

20 Let this be the ³⁷reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who ³⁸speak evil against my soul.

21 But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me ³⁹for Your name's sake; Because ⁴⁰Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me;

22 For ⁴¹I am afflicted and needy, And my heart is ⁴²wounded within me.

23 I am passing ⁴³like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off ⁴⁴like the locust.

24 My ⁴⁵knees are weak from ⁴⁶fasting, And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.

25 I also have become a ⁴⁷reproach to them; When they see me, they ⁴⁸wag their head.

26 ⁴⁹Help me, O LORD my God; Save me according to Your lovingkindness.

27 And let them ⁵⁰know that this is Your hand; You, LORD, have done it.

28 ⁵¹Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, they shall be ashamed, But Your ⁵²servant shall be glad.

29 Let ⁵³my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And let them ⁵⁴cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the LORD; And in the midst of many ⁵⁵I will praise Him.

31 For He stands ⁵⁶at the right hand of the needy, To save him from those who ⁵⁷judge 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.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 10:21
• 2. Psalms 28:1; Psalms 83:1
• 3. Psalms 10:7; Psalms 52:4
• 4. Psalms 120:2
• 5. Psalms 35:7; Psalms 69:4; John 15:25
• 6. Psalms 38:20
• 7. Psalms 69:13; Psalms 141:5
• 8. Psalms 35:12; Psalms 38:20
• 9. John 7:7; John 10:32
• 10. Zechariah 3:1
• 11. Psalms 1:5
• 12. Proverbs 28:9
• 13. Psalms 55:23
• 14. Acts 1:20
• 15. Exodus 22:24
• 16. Jeremiah 18:21
• 17. Genesis 4:12; Job 30:5-8; Psalms 59:15
• 18. Psalms 37:25
• 19. Nehemiah 5:7; Job 5:5; Job 20:15
• 20. Isaiah 1:7; Lamentations 5:2; Ezekiel 7:21
• 21. Ezra 7:28; Ezra 9:9
• 22. Job 5:4; Isaiah 9:17
• 23. Job 18:19; Psalms 21:10; Psalms 37:28
• 24. Psalms 9:5; Proverbs 10:7
• 25. Exodus 20:5; Numbers 14:18; Isaiah 65:6, 7; Jeremiah 32:18
• 26. Nehemiah 4:5; Jeremiah 18:23
• 27. Psalms 90:8; Jeremiah 16:17
• 28. Job 18:17; Psalms 34:16
• 29. Psalms 37:14
• 30. Psalms 34:18
• 31. Psalms 37:32; Psalms 94:6
• 32. Proverbs 14:14; Ezekiel 35:9; Matthew 7:2
• 33. Psalms 73:6; Psalms 109:29; Ezekiel 7:27
• 34. Numbers 5:22
• 35. Psalms 73:6; Psalms 109:29; Ezekiel 7:27
• 36. 2 Samuel 22:40; Psalms 30:11; Isaiah 11:5
• 37. Psalms 54:5; Psalms 94:23; Isaiah 3:11; 2 Timothy 4:14
• 38. Psalms 41:5; Psalms 71:10
• 39. Psalms 23:3; Psalms 25:11; Psalms 79:9; Psalms 106:8; Ezekiel 36:22
• 40. Psalms 69:16
• 41. Psalms 40:17; Psalms 86:1
• 42. Job 24:12; Psalms 143:4; Proverbs 18:14
• 43. Psalms 102:11
• 44. Exodus 10:19; Job 39:20
• 45. Hebrews 12:12
• 46. Psalms 35:13
• 47. Psalms 22:6
• 48. Psalms 22:7; Jeremiah 18:16; Lamentations 2:15; Matthew 27:39; Mark 15:29
• 49. Psalms 119:86
• 50. Job 37:7
• 51. 2 Samuel 16:11, 12
• 52. Isaiah 65:14
• 53. Job 8:22; Psalms 132:18
• 54. Job 8:22; Psalms 35:26
• 55. Psalms 22:22; Psalms 35:18; Psalms 111:1
• 56. Psalms 16:8; Psalms 73:23; Psalms 110:5; Psalms 121:5
• 57. Psalms 37:33

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "wicked mouth and the deceitful"
• [b]. Lit "with"
• [c]. Lit "laid upon me"
• [d]. Or "adversary, Satan"
• [e]. Or "out of their desolate places"
• [f]. Lit "ensnare, strike at"
• [g]. Lit "continue"
• [h]. Lit "for cutting off"
• [i]. Lit "to"
• [j]. Lit "his inward parts"
• [k]. Lit "This is"
• [l]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
• [m]. Lit "one has pierced my heart within me"
• [n]. Or "totter"
• [o]. Or "That they may know"
• [p]. Or "My accusers will be"
• [q]. Or "they will cover"

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.