Psalms 109

1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Do not keep silent, O God of my praise!

2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

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

4 In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.

5 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love.

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

7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty, And let his prayer become sin.

8 Let his days be few, And let another take his office.

9 Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow.

10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.

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

12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.

13 Let his posterity be cut off, And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15 Let them be continually before the Lord, That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

16 Because he did not remember to show mercy, But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart.

17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.

18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.

20 Let this be the Lord's reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person.

21 But You, O God the Lord, Deal with me for Your name's sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.

22 For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.

23 I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.

25 I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O Lord my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy,

27 That they may know that this is Your hand-- That You, Lord, have done it!

28 Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice.

29 Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.

31 For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, To save him from those who condemn him.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew satan
• [b]. Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Septuagint and Vulgate read be cast out.

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.