Psalms 109:1-11

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.

109:6 ⁸ Appoint an evil man to testify against him! ⁹ 

May an accuser stand ¹⁰  at his right side!

109:7 When he is judged, he will be found ¹¹  guilty! ¹² 

Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

109:8 May his days be few! ¹³ 

May another take his job! ¹⁴ 

109:9 May his children ¹⁵  be fatherless,

and his wife a widow!

109:10 May his children ¹⁶  roam around begging,

asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! ¹⁷ 

109:11 May the creditor seize ¹⁸  all he owns!

May strangers loot his property! ¹⁹ 

[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.”

[109:6]  ⁸ 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.

[109:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”

[109:6]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).

[109:7]  ¹¹ 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.

[109:7]  ¹² tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).

[109:8]  ¹³ 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.

[109:8]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.

[109:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sons.”

[109:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “sons.”

[109:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.

[109:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).

[109:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the product of his labor.”