Psalms 109:5-15

5 They reward me with evil instead of good and with hatred instead of love.

6 [I said,] "Appoint the evil one to oppose him. Let Satan stand beside him.

7 When he stands trial, let him be found guilty. Let his prayer be considered sinful.

8 Let his days be few [in number]. Let someone else take his position.

9 "Let his children become fatherless and his wife a widow.

10 Let his children wander around and beg. Let them seek help far from their ruined homes.

11 Let a creditor take everything he owns. Let strangers steal what he has worked for.

12 Let no one be kind to him anymore. Let no one show any pity to his fatherless children.

13 Let his descendants be cut off and their family name be wiped out by the next generation.

14 Let the LORD remember the guilt of his ancestors and not wipe out his mother's sin.

15 Let their guilt and sin always remain on record in front of the LORD. Let the LORD remove every memory of him from the earth,

Psalms 109:5-15 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.