Psalm 109:1-12

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 My God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,

2 for people who are wicked and deceitful have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

3 With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause.

4 In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.

6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.

8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven^[a] from their ruined homes.

11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.

Psalm 109:1-12 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. S Exodus 15:2; Jeremiah 17:14
• 2. S Job 34:29; Psalms 83:1
• 3. S Psalms 43:1
• 4. S Psalms 52:4; Psalms 120:2
• 5. Psalms 69:4
• 6. Psalms 35:7; John 15:25
• 7. Psalms 69:13; Psalms 141:5
• 8. S Genesis 44:4; Psalms 35:12; Psalms 38:20
• 9. 1 Chronicles 21:1; Job 1:6; Zechariah 3:1
• 10. Psalms 1:5
• 11. Proverbs 28:9; Isaiah 41:24
• 12. S Job 15:32
• 13. Acts 1:20*
• 14. Exodus 22:24; Jeremiah 18:21
• 15. S Genesis 4:12
• 16. Nehemiah 5:3
• 17. S Numbers 14:3; Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 6:11; Isaiah 36:1; Lamentations 5:2
• 18. Job 20:18; Job 5:5
• 19. S Job 5:4; Isaiah 9:17

Footnotes

• [a] Septuagint; Hebrew "sought"