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Psalm 109

Prayer for Vindication and Vengeance

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

Do not be silent, O God of my praise.

For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,

speaking against me with lying tongues.

They beset me with words of hate,

and attack me without cause.

In return for my love they accuse me,

even while I make prayer for them.

So they reward me evil for good,

and hatred for my love.

They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him;

let an accuser stand on his right.

When he is tried, let him be found guilty;

let his prayer be counted as sin.

May his days be few;

may another seize his position.

May his children be orphans,

and his wife a widow.

May his children wander about and beg;

may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.

May the creditor seize all that he has;

may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.

May there be no one to do him a kindness,

nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.

May his posterity be cut off;

may his name be blotted out in the second generation.

May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the L ord,

and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.

Let them be before the L ord continually,

and may his memory be cut off from the earth.

For he did not remember to show kindness,

but pursued the poor and needy

and the brokenhearted to their death.

He loved to curse; let curses come on him.

He did not like blessing; may it be far from him.

He clothed himself with cursing as his coat,

may it soak into his body like water,

like oil into his bones.

May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself,

like a belt that he wears every day.”

May that be the reward of my accusers from the L ord,

of those who speak evil against my life.

But you, O L ord my Lord,

act on my behalf for your name’s sake;

because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.

For I am poor and needy,

and my heart is pierced within me.

I am gone like a shadow at evening;

I am shaken off like a locust.

My knees are weak through fasting;

my body has become gaunt.

I am an object of scorn to my accusers;

when they see me, they shake their heads.

Help me, O L ord my God!

Save me according to your steadfast love.

Let them know that this is your hand;

you, O L ord, have done it.

Let them curse, but you will bless.

Let my assailants be put to shame; may your servant be glad.

May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;

may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle.

With my mouth I will give great thanks to the L ord;

I will praise him in the midst of the throng.

For he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to save them from those who would condemn them to death.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

12 Let there be none prolonging mercy to him. To continue to show humanity and mercy is, according to the Hebrew idiom, equivalent to constant and successive acts of kindness; and it also sometimes denotes pity, or the being moved to sympathy, when, through the lapse of years, anger is appeased, and even one’s calamity melts the heart of the man who bore hatred towards him. ³⁰⁹³⁰⁹ “Et mesmes la calamite de quelqu’un amollit le ceur de celuy qui luy portoit haine.” — Fr. Accordingly, there are some who understand this clause to mean, that there will be none to show kindness to his offspring; which interpretation is in conformity with the next clause of the verse. David, however, includes also the wicked man himself along with his children; as if he should say, Though he visibly pine away under such calamities, and these descend to his children, yet let no one show pity towards them. We are aware it not unfrequently happens, that the long-continued misfortune of an enemy either excites the sympathy of men of savage dispositions, or else makes them forget all their hatred and malevolence. But in this part of the psalm, David expresses a desire that his enemy and all his posterity may be so hated and detested, that the people may never be wearied with beholding the calamities which they endure, but may become so familiarised with the spectacle, as if their hearts were of iron. At the same time, let it be remarked, that David is not rashly excited by any personal anguish to speak in this manner, but that it is as God’s messenger he declares the punishment which was impending over the ungodly. And verily the law accounts it as one of the judgments of God, his hardening men’s hearts, so that they who have been passionately and unmercifully cruel, should find no sympathy, Deuteronomy 2:30. It is just that the same measure which they have used towards others, should also be meted out to themselves.

³⁰⁹ “Et mesmes la calamite de quelqu’un amollit le ceur de celuy qui luy portoit haine.” — Fr.