Psalms 109:23-31

109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; ¹ 

I am shaken off like a locust.

109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; ² 

I have turned into skin and bones. ³ 

109:25 I am disdained by them. ⁴ 

When they see me, they shake their heads. ⁵ 

109:26 Help me, O Lord my God!

Because you are faithful to me, deliver me! ⁶ 

109:27 Then they will realize ⁷  this is your work, ⁸ 

and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ⁹ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ¹⁰ 

but your servant will rejoice.

109:29 My accusers will be covered ¹¹  with shame,

and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.

109:30 I will thank the Lord profusely, ¹² 

in the middle of a crowd ¹³  I will praise him,

109:31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to deliver him from those who threaten ¹⁴  his life.

[109:23]  ¹ 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.

[109:24]  ² tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”

[109:24]  ³ tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”

[109:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”

[109:25]  ⁵ sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.

[109:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”

[109:27]  ⁷ tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

[109:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “that your hand [is] this.”

[109:28]  ⁹ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

[109:28]  ¹⁰ 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.

[109:29]  ¹¹ 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”).

[109:30]  ¹² tn Heb “I will thank the Lord very much with my mouth.”

[109:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “many.”

[109:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “judge.”