Psalm 109:6-20

6 Appoint a wicked man over him, And let an ¹accuser stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him ²come forth guilty, And let his ³prayer become sin.

8 Let ⁴his days be few; Let ⁵another take his office.

9 Let his ⁶children be fatherless And his ⁷wife a widow.

10 Let his ⁸children wander about and beg; And let them ⁹seek sustenance far from their ruined homes.

11 Let ¹⁰the creditor seize all that he has, And let ¹¹strangers plunder the product of his labor.

12 Let there be none to ¹²extend lovingkindness to him, Nor ¹³any to be gracious to his fatherless children.

13 Let his ¹⁴posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their ¹⁵name be blotted out.

14 Let ¹⁶the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And do not let the sin of his mother be ¹⁷blotted out.

15 Let ¹⁸them be before the LORD continually, That He may ¹⁹cut off their memory from the earth;

16 Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the ²⁰afflicted and needy man, And the ²¹despondent in heart, to ²²put them to death.

17 He also loved cursing, so ²³it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

18 But he ²⁴clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it ²⁵entered into his body like water And like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be to him as ²⁶a garment with which he covers himself, And for a belt with which he constantly ²⁷girds himself.

20 Let this be the ²⁸reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who ²⁹speak evil against my soul.

Psalm 109:6-20 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.

Cross References

• 1. Zechariah 3:1
• 2. Psalms 1:5
• 3. Proverbs 28:9
• 4. Psalms 55:23
• 5. Acts 1:20
• 6. Exodus 22:24
• 7. Jeremiah 18:21
• 8. Genesis 4:12; Job 30:5-8; Psalms 59:15
• 9. Psalms 37:25
• 10. Nehemiah 5:7; Job 5:5; Job 20:15
• 11. Isaiah 1:7; Lamentations 5:2; Ezekiel 7:21
• 12. Ezra 7:28; Ezra 9:9
• 13. Job 5:4; Isaiah 9:17
• 14. Job 18:19; Psalms 21:10; Psalms 37:28
• 15. Psalms 9:5; Proverbs 10:7
• 16. Exodus 20:5; Numbers 14:18; Isaiah 65:6, 7; Jeremiah 32:18
• 17. Nehemiah 4:5; Jeremiah 18:23
• 18. Psalms 90:8; Jeremiah 16:17
• 19. Job 18:17; Psalms 34:16
• 20. Psalms 37:14
• 21. Psalms 34:18
• 22. Psalms 37:32; Psalms 94:6
• 23. Proverbs 14:14; Ezekiel 35:9; Matthew 7:2
• 24. Psalms 73:6; Psalms 109:29; Ezekiel 7:27
• 25. Numbers 5:22
• 26. Psalms 73:6; Psalms 109:29; Ezekiel 7:27
• 27. 2 Samuel 22:40; Psalms 30:11; Isaiah 11:5
• 28. Psalms 54:5; Psalms 94:23; Isaiah 3:11; 2 Timothy 4:14
• 29. Psalms 41:5; Psalms 71:10

Footnotes

• [a] Or "adversary, Satan"
• [b] Or "out of their desolate places"
• [c] Lit "ensnare, strike at"
• [d] Lit "continue"
• [e] Lit "for cutting off"
• [f] Lit "to"
• [g] Lit "his inward parts"
• [h] Lit "This is"