Psalms 109:1-5

Psalm 109 ¹ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

109:1 O God whom I praise, do not ignore me! ² 

109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;

they lie to me. ³ 

109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; ⁴ 

they attack me for no reason.

109:4 They repay my love with accusations, ⁵ 

but I continue to pray. ⁶ 

109:5 They repay me evil for good, ⁷ 

and hate for love.

Psalms 109:20

109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, ⁸ 

those who say evil things about ⁹  me! ¹⁰ 

[109:1]  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.

[109:1]  ² tn Heb “do not be deaf.”

[109:2]  ³ 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.”

[109:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”

[109:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”

[109:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I, prayer.”

[109:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”

[109:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the Lord.”

[109:20]  ⁹ tn Or “against.”

[109:20]  ¹⁰ 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).