Psalms 109:17-18

Context

109:17 He loved to curse¹ others, so those curses have come upon him.²

He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings.³

109:18 He made cursing a way of life,⁴

so curses poured into his stomach like water

and seeped into his bones like oil.⁵

Proverbs 5:22

Context

5:22 The wicked⁶ will be captured by his⁷ own iniquities,⁸

and he will be held⁹ by the cords of his own sin.¹⁰

Isaiah 3:10

Context

3:10 Tell the innocent¹¹ it will go well with them,¹²

for they will be rewarded for what they have done.¹³

Zechariah 1:6

Context
1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers?¹⁴ Then they paid attention¹⁵ and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

[109:17] ¹sn 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.

[109:17] ²tn 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.

[109:17] ³tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”

[109:18] ⁴tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

[109:18] ⁵tn 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 vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”

[5:22] ⁶tn The suffix on the verb is the direct object suffix; “the wicked” is a second object by apposition: They capture him, the wicked. Since “the wicked” is not found in the LXX, it could be an old scribal error; or the Greek translator may have simply smoothed out the sentence. C. H. Toy suggests turning the sentence into a passive idea: “The wicked will be caught in his iniquities” (Proverbs [ICC], 117).

[5:22] ⁷tn The word is the subject of the clause, but the pronominal suffix has no clear referent. The suffix is proleptic, referring to the wicked.

[5:22] ⁸tn Heb “his own iniquities will capture the wicked.” The translation shifts the syntax for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[5:22] ⁹sn The lack of discipline and control in the area of sexual gratification is destructive. The one who plays with this kind of sin will become ensnared by it and led to ruin.

[5:22] ¹⁰tn The Hebrew is structured chiastically: “his own iniquities will capture the wicked, by the cords of his own sin will he be held.”

[3:10] ¹¹tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”

[3:10] ¹²tn Heb “that it is good.”

[3:10] ¹³tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”

[1:6] ¹⁴tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (’etkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (’avotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.

[1:6] ¹⁵tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”