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Psalms 109

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Complaint Against Deceitful Enemies 1–5

1
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; ​
2
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. ​
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 Satan stand at his right hand. ​
7
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: 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 be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour 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 with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. ​
15
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16
Because that he remembered not to shew 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 unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18
As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. ​
19
Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

A Plea for Merciful Deliverance 21–29

21
But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy 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 became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. ​
26
Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
27
That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. ​
28
Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.
29
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

Vow of Praise and Confidence 30–31

30
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. ​
31
For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · 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). 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 — 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 — 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.