Psalms 109

1 To victory, the psalm of David. God, hold thou not still my praising; (To victory, the song of David. God of my praises, be thou not silent;)
2 for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the guileful man, is opened on me. They spake against me with a guileful tongue, (for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the deceitful, were opened against me. Yea, they spoke against me with their lying tongues,)
3 and they (en)compassed me with words of hatred; and fought against me without cause. (and they surrounded me with hateful words; and fought against me for no reason.)
4 For that thing that they should love me (for), they backbited me; but I prayed (for them).
5 And they setted against me evils for goods (And they paid me back evil for good); and hatred for my love.
6 Ordain thou a sinner on him; and the devil stand on his right half. (Ordain thou a sinner over my enemy; and let the devil stand at his right hand.)
7 When he is deemed, go he out condemned; and his prayer be made into sin. (When he is judged, let him go out condemned; and let his prayer be made into sin.)
8 His days be made few; and another take his bishopric. (Let his days be made few; and another take his office.)
9 (Let) His sons be made fatherless; and his wife a widow.
10 His sons trembling be borne over, and beg; and be they cast out of their habitations. (Let his sons and daughters be made vagrants, and go begging; yea, let them be thrown out of their dwelling places.)
11 An usurer seek all his chattel; and aliens ravish his travails. (Let an usurer take away all his chattel, or his substance; and let foreigners, or strangers, take all that he hath worked for.)
12 None helper be to him; neither any be that have mercy on his motherless children. (Let there be no one to help him; nor let anyone have mercy on his motherless children.)
13 His sons be made into perishing (Let all his sons and daughters die); (and) the name of him be done away in one generation.
14 The wickedness of his fathers come again into mind in the sight of the Lord; and the sin of his mother be not done away. (Let the wickedness of his forefathers be remembered by the Lord; and let his mother's sin be not done away, or wiped out.)
15 Be they made ever[more] against the Lord; and the mind of them perish from earth. (Let their sins be before the Lord forevermore; but let the remembrance of these people perish from all the earth.)
16 For that thing that he thought not to do mercy, and he pursued a poor man and a beggar; and to slay a man compunct in heart. (Because he never thought to show mercy, or love, but he persecuted the poor and the needy; and he even killed the broken-hearted.)
17 And he loved cursing, and it shall come to him; and he would not blessing, and it shall be made far from him. (And because he loved to curse others, now let it come to him; and because he delighted not to give anyone a blessing, now let it be made far from him.)
18 And he clothed cursing as a cloth, and it entered as water into his inner things; and as oil in his bones. (He clothed himself in cursing, like with a cloak, and it entered into his inner things, like water; yea, like oil into his bones.)
19 Be it made to him as a cloth, with which he is covered; and as a girdle, with which he is ever[more] girded. (Let it be made to him like a cloak, with which he is covered; yea, like a girdle, with which he is girded forevermore.)
20 This is the work of them that backbite me with the Lord; and that speak evils against my life. (Let this be the reward of those who backbite me with the Lord; yea, those who speak evil against me.)
21 And thou, Lord God, do with me for thy name; for thy mercy is sweet. Deliver thou me, (But thou, Lord God, do with me for the sake of thy name; for thy love is good. Save thou me,)
22 for I am needy and poor; and mine heart is troubled within me. (for I am poor and needy; and my heart is troubled within me.)
23 I am taken away as a shadow, when it boweth away; and I am shaken away as locusts. (I fade away like a shadow in the evening; and I am shaken off like a bug.)
24 My knees be made feeble with fasting; and my flesh was changed for oil. (My knees be made weak with fasting; and my flesh wasteth away for lack of oil.)
25 And I am made (a) shame to them; they saw me, and moved their heads (they saw me, and shook their heads).
26 My Lord God, help thou me; make thou me safe by thy mercy. (My Lord God, help thou me; save thou me in thy mercy/save thou me because of thy love.)
27 And they shall know, that this is thine hand; and (that) thou, Lord, hast done it.
28 And they shall curse, and thou shalt bless, they that rise against me, be shamed; but thy servant shall be glad. (And they shall curse, but thou shalt bless, so let those who rise against me, be put to shame; but thy servant shall be glad.)
29 They that backbite me, be clothed with shame; and be they covered with their shame, as with a double cloth. (Let those who backbite me, be clothed with shame; yea, let them be covered with their shame, like with a cloak.)
30 I shall acknowledge to the Lord greatly with my mouth; and I shall praise him in the middle of many men. (With my mouth I shall greatly thank the Lord; yea, I shall praise him in the midst of many people.)
31 Which stood nigh on the right half of a poor man; to make safe my soul from pursuers. (For he standeth close to the right hand of the poor; to save them from their pursuers, or their persecutors.)

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.

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.

Psalms 109 Commentaries

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.