Psalm 109
New English Translation
Psalm 109[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
109 O God whom I praise, do not ignore me.[b]
2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;
they lie to me.[c]
3 They surround me and say hateful things;[d]
they attack me for no reason.
4 They repay my love with accusations,[e]
but I continue to pray.[f]
5 They repay me evil for good,[g]
and hate for love.
6 [h] Appoint an evil man to testify against him.[i]
May an accuser stand[j] at his right side.
7 When he is judged, he will be found[k] guilty.[l]
Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.
8 May his days be few.[m]
May another take his job.[n]
9 May his children[o] be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children[p] roam around begging,
asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home.[q]
11 May the creditor seize[r] all he owns.
May strangers loot his property.[s]
12 May no one show him kindness.[t]
May no one have compassion[u] on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants[v] be cut off.[w]
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives.[x]
14 May his ancestors’[y] sins be remembered by the Lord.
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten.[z]
15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them,[aa]
and cut off the memory of his children[ab] from the earth.
16 For he never bothered to show kindness;[ac]
he harassed the oppressed and needy,
and killed the disheartened.[ad]
17 He loved to curse[ae] others, so those curses have come upon him.[af]
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings.[ag]
18 He made cursing a way of life,[ah]
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil.[ai]
19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on,[aj]
or a belt[ak] one wears continually.
20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way,[al]
those who say evil things about[am] me.[an]
21 O Sovereign Lord,
intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation.[ao]
Because your loyal love is good, deliver me.
22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me.[ap]
23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day;[aq]
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 I am so starved my knees shake;[ar]
I have turned into skin and bones.[as]
25 I am disdained by them.[at]
When they see me, they shake their heads.[au]
26 Help me, O Lord my God.
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me.[av]
27 Then they will realize[aw] this is your work,[ax]
and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28 They curse, but you will bless.[ay]
When they attack, they will be humiliated,[az]
but your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be covered[ba] with shame,
and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.
30 I will thank the Lord profusely.[bb]
In the middle of a crowd[bc] I will praise him,
31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to deliver him from those who threaten[bd] his life.
Footnotes
- Psalm 109:1 sn Psalm 109. Appealing to God’s justice, the psalmist asks God to vindicate him and to bring severe judgment down upon his enemies.
- Psalm 109:1 tn Heb “do not be deaf.”
- Psalm 109:2 tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”
- Psalm 109:3 tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”
- Psalm 109:4 tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”
- Psalm 109:4 tn Heb “and I, prayer.”
- Psalm 109:5 tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”
- Psalm 109:6 sn In vv. 6-19 the psalmist calls on God to judge his enemies severely. Some attribute this curse-list to the psalmist’s enemies rather than the psalmist. In this case one should paraphrase v. 6: “They say about me, ‘Appoint an evil man, etc.’” Those supporting this line of interpretation point out that vv. 2-5 and 20 refer to the enemies’ attack on the psalmist being a verbal one. Furthermore in vv. 1-5, 20 the psalmist speaks of his enemies in the plural, while vv. 6-19 refer to an individual. This use of the singular in vv. 6-19 could be readily explained if this is the psalmist’s enemies’ curse on him. However, it is much more natural to understand vv. 6-19 as the psalmist’s prayer against his enemies. There is no introductory quotation formula in v. 6 to indicate that the psalmist is quoting anyone, and the statement “may the Lord repay my accusers in this way” in v. 20 most naturally appears to be a fitting conclusion to the prayer in vv. 6-19. But what about the use of the singular in vv. 6-19? Often in the psalms the psalmist will describe his enemies as a group, but then speak of them as an individual as well, as if viewing his adversaries collectively as one powerful foe. See, for example, Ps 7, where the psalmist uses both the plural (vv. 1, 6) and the singular (vv. 2, 4-5) in referring to enemies. Perhaps by using the singular in such cases, the psalmist wants to single out each enemy for individual attention, or perhaps he has one especially hostile enemy in mind who epitomizes the opposition of the whole group. This may well be the case in Ps 109. Perhaps we should understand the singular throughout vv. 6-19 in the sense of “each and every one.” For a lengthy and well-reasoned defense of the opposite view—that vv. 6-19 are a quotation of what the enemies said about the psalmist—see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 72-73.
- Psalm 109:6 tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”
- Psalm 109:6 tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).
- Psalm 109:7 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.
- Psalm 109:7 tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).
- Psalm 109:8 tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.
- Psalm 109:8 tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pequddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.
- Psalm 109:9 tn Or “sons.”
- Psalm 109:10 tn Or “sons.”
- Psalm 109:10 tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vedareshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yegoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shiʾelu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.
- Psalm 109:11 tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).
- Psalm 109:11 tn Heb “the product of his labor.”
- Psalm 109:12 tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”
- Psalm 109:12 tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).
- Psalm 109:13 tn Or “offspring.”
- Psalm 109:13 sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.
- Psalm 109:13 tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”
- Psalm 109:14 tn Or “fathers’ sins.”
- Psalm 109:14 tn Heb “not be wiped out.”sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)
- Psalm 109:15 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”
- Psalm 109:15 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.
- Psalm 109:16 tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”
- Psalm 109:16 tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”
- Psalm 109:17 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
- Psalm 109:17 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
- Psalm 109:17 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
- Psalm 109:18 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
- Psalm 109:18 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the verb from the preterite form וַתָּבֹא (vattavoʾ, “and it came”) to a jussive form וְתָבֹא (vetavoʾ, “and may it come!”).
- Psalm 109:19 tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”
- Psalm 109:19 tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.
- Psalm 109:20 tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the Lord.”
- Psalm 109:20 tn Or “against.”
- Psalm 109:20 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
- Psalm 109:21 tn Heb “but you, Lord, Master, deal with me for the sake of your name” or “on account of your name.” Here “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation. The Psalmist’s appeal is for God to act consistently with, and therefore maintain, his reputation (as a deliverer of the righteous and one who punishes evildoers). Note that “for your name’s sake” is paralleled by “because your loyal love is good.” The point is that the Psalmist is making an appeal not based on his own personal whim or vendetta but is calling for judicial penalties (or the fulfillment of prior prophetic indictment).
- Psalm 109:22 tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a Polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbi yakhil beqirbbi, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).
- Psalm 109:23 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
- Psalm 109:24 tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”
- Psalm 109:24 tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”
- Psalm 109:25 tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”
- Psalm 109:25 sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.
- Psalm 109:26 tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”
- Psalm 109:27 tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
- Psalm 109:27 tn Heb “that your hand [is] this.”
- Psalm 109:28 tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).
- Psalm 109:28 tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.
- Psalm 109:29 tn Heb “clothed.” Another option is to translate the prefixed verbal forms in this line and the next as jussives (“may my accusers be covered with shame”).
- Psalm 109:30 tn Heb “I will thank the Lord very much with my mouth.”
- Psalm 109:30 tn Heb “many.”
- Psalm 109:31 tn Heb “judge.”
Psalmen 109
BasisBijbel
Psalm 109
1 Een lied van David. Voor de leider van het koor.
God, ik prijs U.
Blijf niet langer zwijgen, Heer!
2 Want slechte mensen beschuldigen mij.
Leugenaars strooien praatjes over mij rond.
3 Omdat ze me haten, bedreigen ze mij.
Toch had ik hen nooit kwaad gedaan! Ze hadden geen enkele reden.
4 Ik hield van hen en bad voor hen.
Als dank komen ze nu tegen mij in opstand.
5 In ruil voor het goede dat ik voor hen gedaan heb,
doen ze mij nu kwaad.
Ik gaf vriendschap, maar ze geven mij er haat voor terug.
6 Laat een onrechtvaardig rechter over mijn vijand rechtspreken.
Laat iemand hem bij de rechter beschuldigen.
7 Ik hoop dat hij door de rechter schuldig wordt verklaard,
en dat de rechter niet zal luisteren als hij smeekt om vrijspraak.
8 God, zorg dat hij niet lang leeft.
Geef zijn taak aan iemand anders.
9 Maak zijn kinderen weeskinderen,
en zijn vrouw weduwe.
10 Maak dat zijn kinderen moeten zwerven en bedelen,
weggejaagd uit hun verwoeste huis.
11 Zorg dat de man bij wie hij schulden heeft,
alles grijpt wat hij bezit.
Zorg dat andere mensen plunderen
wat hij met hard werken heeft verdiend.
12 Laat niemand vriendelijk voor hem zijn,
laat niemand na zijn dood medelijden hebben met zijn kinderen.
13 Laten zijn kinderen worden gedood,
zodat zijn familie al gauw niet meer bestaat
en zijn naam wordt vergeten.
14 Heer, vergeet ook niet de slechte daden van zijn voorouders.
Vergeef niets van wat zijn ouders verkeerd tegen U hebben gedaan.
15 Vergeef niets, maar vernietig zijn hele familie,
zodat niemand later nog zal weten dat hij heeft geleefd.
16 Want zelf had hij ook met niemand medelijden.
Arme mensen zonder hoop vervolgde hij tot de dood.
17 Andere mensen wenste hij kwaad toe
– laat hem nu zelf kwaad overkomen.
Hij was voor niemand goed
– wees nu ook niet goed voor hem.
18 Omhul hem met onheil alsof het zijn kleren zijn.
Laat het bij hem binnendringen
als water in zijn binnenste,
als olie in zijn botten.
19 Laat het kwaad altijd om hem heen hangen,
alsof het de mantel om zijn schouders is,
of de riem om zijn middel.
20 Laat dit Gods straf zijn
voor de mensen die mij beschuldigen,
voor mijn vijanden die mij bedreigen.
21 Maar Heer, kom alstublieft voor mij op
vanwege uw eigen eer.
Red mij, omdat U goed en liefdevol bent.
22 Want ik ben er ellendig aan toe.
Ik ben diep bedroefd.
23 Mijn leven is niets meer waard.
Ik word vertrapt als een worm.
24 Ik ben zwak doordat ik al heel lang niet heb gegeten.
Ik ben vel over been geworden.
25 Daarom lachen ze me uit.
Als ze me zien, schudden ze spottend hun hoofd.
26 Help me, mijn Heer God.
Red me, omdat U goed bent.
27 Dan zullen ze toegeven
dat U het bent die mij gered heeft.
28 Ze vervloeken me nu wel,
maar U zal mij zegenen en goed voor mij zijn.
Ze vallen me nu wel aan,
maar U zal hen voor schut zetten.
En ik zal daar blij over zijn!
29 Zorg ervoor dat mijn vijanden
heel erg voor schut zullen komen te staan.
Bedek hen met schande als met een deken.
30 Ik zal de Heer luid prijzen.
Ik zal Hem danken en voor Hem zingen in een grote groep.
31 Want Hij komt op voor de mensen in nood.
Hij redt hen van de mensen die hen beschuldigen en veroordelen.
Psalm 109
Living Bible
109 O God of my praise, don’t stand silent and aloof 2 while the wicked slander me and tell their lies. 3 They have no reason to hate and fight me, yet they do! 4 I love them, but even while I am praying for them, they are trying to destroy me. 5 They return evil for good, and hatred for love.
6 Show him how it feels![a] Let lies be told about him, and bring him to court before an unfair judge. 7 When his case is called for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins. 8 Let his years be few and brief; let others step forward to replace him. 9-10 May his children become fatherless and his wife a widow; may they be evicted from the ruins of their home. 11 May creditors seize his entire estate and strangers take all he has earned. 12-13 Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children. May they die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation. 14 Punish the sins of his father and mother. Don’t overlook them. 15 Think constantly about the evil things he has done, and cut off his name from the memory of man.
16 For he refused all kindness to others, and persecuted those in need, and hounded brokenhearted ones to death. 17 He loved to curse others; now you curse him. He never blessed others; now don’t you bless him. 18 Cursing is as much a part of him as his clothing, or as the water he drinks, or the rich food he eats.
19 Now may those curses return and cling to him like his clothing or his belt. 20 This is the Lord’s punishment upon my enemies who tell lies about me and threaten me with death.
21 But as for me, O Lord, deal with me as your child, as one who bears your name! Because you are so kind, O Lord, deliver me.
22-23 I am slipping down the hill to death; I am shaken off from life as easily as a man brushes a grasshopper from his arm. 24 My knees are weak from fasting, and I am skin and bones. 25 I am a symbol of failure to all mankind; when they see me they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God! Save me because you are loving and kind. 27 Do it publicly, so all will see that you yourself have done it. 28 Then let them curse me if they like—I won’t mind that if you are blessing me! For then all their efforts to destroy me will fail, and I shall go right on rejoicing!
29 Make them fail in everything they do. Clothe them with disgrace. 30 But I will give repeated thanks to the Lord, praising him to everyone. 31 For he stands beside the poor and hungry to save them from their enemies.
Footnotes
- Psalm 109:6 Show him how it feels, implied.
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