Plea for Judgment of False Accusers

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

109 Do(A) not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a (B)lying tongue.
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me (C)without a cause.
In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
Thus (D)they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.

Set a wicked man over him,
And let (E)an [a]accuser stand at his right hand.
When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And (F)let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be (G)few,
And (H)let another take his office.
(I)Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children [b]continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them [c]seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 (J)Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 (K)Let his [d]posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their (L)name be blotted out.

14 (M)Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother (N)be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may (O)cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the (P)broken in heart.
17 (Q)As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it (R)enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 109:6 Heb. satan
  2. Psalm 109:10 wander continuously
  3. Psalm 109:10 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. be cast out
  4. Psalm 109:13 descendants be destroyed

20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.

21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone (A)like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My (B)knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become (C)a reproach to them;
When they look at me, (D)they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 (E)That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 (F)Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let (G)Your servant rejoice.
29 (H)Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, (I)I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For (J)He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those [a]who condemn him.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 109:31 Lit. judging his soul

The Message of the Man of God

13 And behold, (A)a man of God went from Judah to Bethel [a]by the word of the Lord, (B)and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar [b]by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, (C)Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be (D)burned on you.’ ” And he gave (E)a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please (F)entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and (G)I will give you a reward.”

But the man of God said to the king, (H)“If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, (I)‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’ ” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 13:1 at the Lord’s command
  2. 1 Kings 13:2 at the Lord’s command

Barnabas and Saul at Antioch

19 (A)Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to (B)the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And (C)the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and (D)turned to the Lord.

22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out (E)Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. 23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and (F)encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. 24 For he was a good man, (G)full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. (H)And a great many people were added to the Lord.

25 Then Barnabas departed for (I)Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Relief to Judea

27 And in these days (J)prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 Then one of them, named (K)Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of (L)Claudius Caesar. 29 Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send (M)relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 30 (N)This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

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