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Psalms 109

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Complaint Against Deceitful Enemies 1–5

1
Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; ​
2
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have they opened against me: They have spoken unto me with a lying tongue.
3
They have compassed me about also with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause.
4
For my love they are my adversaries: But Igive myself untoprayer. ​
5
And they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love.

The Imprecation Against the Adversary 6–20

6
Set thou a wicked man over him; And let an adversary stand at his right hand. ​
7
When he is judged, let him come forth guilty; And let his prayer be turned into sin. ​
8
Let his days be few; Andlet another take his office. ​
9
Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. ​
10
Let his children be vagabonds, and beg; And let them seek their bread out of their desolate places.
11
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; And let strangers make spoil of his labor.
12
Let there be none to extend kindness unto him; Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
13
Let his posterity be cut off; In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah; And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. ​
15
Let them be before Jehovah continually, That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16
Because he remembered not to show kindness, But persecuted the poor and needy man, And the broken in heart, to slay them. ​
17
Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him; And he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.
18
He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment, And it came into his inward parts like water, And like oil into his bones. ​
19
Let it be unto him as the raiment wherewith he covereth himself, And for the girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20
This is the reward of mine adversaries from Jehovah, And of them that speak evil against my soul.

A Plea for Merciful Deliverance 21–29

21
But deal thou with me, O Jehovah the Lord, for thy name’s sake: Because thy lovingkindness is good, deliver thou me; ​
22
For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me. ​
23
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. ​
24
My knees are weak through fasting; And my flesh faileth of fatness.
25
I am become also a reproach unto them: When they see me, they shake their head. ​
26
Help me, O Jehovah my God; Oh save me according to thy lovingkindness:
27
That they may know that this is thy hand; That thou, Jehovah, hast done it. ​
28
Let them curse, but bless thou: When they arise, they shall be put to shame, But thy servant shall rejoice.
29
Let mine adversaries be clothed with dishonor, And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

Vow of Praise and Confidence 30–31

30
I will give great thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth; Yea, I will praise him among the multitude. ​
31
For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, To save him from them that judge his soul. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 109

Verse 1

Hold not thy peace — Charash, to be silent. The cry is that God not stay silent while the mouths of v.2 are open; the same plea opens Ps 83:1, 'hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.' 'Of my praise' (tehillah) names God as the one the psalmist praises and boasts in.

Verse 4

they are my adversaries — The verb is satan, to accuse or oppose, from the root of the noun 'Satan' in v.6. Love is repaid with accusation (cf. Ps 38:20). The last clause is literally I prayer (tephillah): he is given over to prayer. The word returns in v.7, where the foe's prayer becomes sin.

Verse 6

let Satan stand at his right hand — The right hand was the accuser's place: 'Satan standing at his right hand to resist him' (Zech 3:1). 'Set' is paqad, to appoint. Peter applies this psalm (v.8) to Judas, into whom 'Satan entered' (John 13:27); the psalm turns from many enemies to one man.

Verse 7

let his prayer become sin — Chatta'ah, which also means a sin offering. A wicked man's worship is already refused: 'The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination' (Prov 21:27), and 'even his prayer shall be abomination' (Prov 28:9). This is set against the psalmist's own prayer in v.4.

Verse 8

let another take his office — Pequddah, oversight, a charge given by visitation; the KJV renders it 'bishoprick' where Peter quotes it: 'his bishoprick let another take' (Acts 1:20). Matthias was then chosen to replace Judas, 'from which Judas by transgression fell' (Acts 1:25).

Verse 9

his children be fatherless — The curse falls on the household because the man's oppression had reached the helpless (v.16). The words echo the penalty the LORD attached to oppressing widows and orphans: 'your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless' (Ex 22:24). The imprecations are asked of God, not carried out by the psalmist.

Verse 14

the iniquity of his fathers — The LORD declares himself 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children' (Ex 20:5); the request asks that the family's guilt not be 'blotted out' (machah, the verb of v.13). Scripture also holds that 'The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father' (Ezek 18:20), each answering for his own.

Verse 16

remembered not to shew mercy — 'Mercy' is chesed, covenant kindness; the fault is a failure to remember to show it. 'Persecuted' is radaph, to pursue, and its targets are the 'poor' (ani), the 'needy' (ebyon) and the 'broken in heart', whom the LORD is 'nigh unto' (Ps 34:18). It is the ground of the curses in vv.6–15.

Verse 18

like water, and like oil into his bones — Cursing, worn as a garment (v.19), is to enter 'his bowels' (qereb, the inward part) as water is drunk, and his bones as oil soaks in. Water that carries a curse into the bowels is found in Num 5:22; the man who loved cursing (v.17) receives it inwardly.

Verse 21

But do thou for me — This is the turn from the curses to the psalmist's own plea. 'GOD the Lord' (Adonai with the divine name, printed 'GOD') appeals 'for thy name's sake', as in Ps 31:3. The ground is not merit but 'thy mercy' (chesed), which he calls 'good', as in Ps 69:16.

Verse 22

poor and needy — Ani and ebyon, the afflicted and the destitute, who have no claim but God's help; David uses the pair in Ps 40:17 and Ps 86:1. 'Wounded' is chalal, pierced through, and the wound is 'within' (qereb), at the centre of the man.

Verse 23

tossed up and down as the locust — The shadow that 'declineth' lengthens toward evening and vanishes (cf. Ps 102:11). Arbeh, the locust, is driven by the wind: the LORD's west wind 'took away the locusts' (Ex 10:19). Life is shown as fading and with no control over its course.

Verse 25

they shaked their heads — The gesture of scorn is found in Ps 22:7, 'they shake the head, saying', and at the cross: 'they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads' (Matt 27:39). Cherpah, reproach, is the word for the shame he bears before those who look on him.

Verse 27

this is thy hand — The deliverance is to be recognised as God's own act. The magicians said of the lice, 'This is the finger of God' (Ex 8:19), and Elijah prayed that the people 'may know that thou art the LORD God' (1 Kings 18:37). Here the ones taught are the enemies themselves.

Verse 30

I will greatly praise the LORD — Two verbs: yadah, to give thanks (from yad, hand, a lifting of hands) and halal, to praise aloud, the root of 'hallelujah'. The vow is made 'with my mouth', the same mouth that the wicked had opened in v.2, and 'among the multitude' (rab), in public.

Verse 31

stand at the right hand of the poor — This is the answer to v.6: the accuser stood at the wicked man's right hand to condemn him, but the LORD stands at the right hand of the ebyon, the needy, 'to save him from those that condemn his soul'. The same verb, amad, is used in both verses.