Psalms 109
109
PSALM 109
Common Meter: 8,6,8,6
To the chief Musician,
A Psalm of David.
1O thou the God of all my praise,
do thou not hold thy peace;
2For mouths of wicked men to speak
against me do not cease:
The mouths of vile deceitful men
against me open'd be;
And with a false and lying tongue
they have accused me.
3They did beset me round about
with words of hateful spight:
And though to them no cause I gave,
against me they did fight.
4They for my love became my foes,
but I me set to pray.
5Evil for good, hatred for love,
to me they did repay.
6Set thou the wicked over him;
and upon his right hand
Give thou his greatest enemy,
ev'n Satan, leave to stand.
7And when by thee he shall be judg'd,
let him condemned be;
And let his pray'r be turn'd to sin,
when he shall call on thee.
8Few be his days, and in his room
his charge another take.
9His children let be fatherless,
his wife a widow make.
10His children let be vagabonds,
and beg continually;
And from their places desolate
seek bread for their supply.
11Let covetous extortioners
catch all he hath away:
Of all for which he labour'd hath
let strangers make a prey.
12Let there be none to pity him,
let there be none at all
That on his children fatherless
will let his mercy fall.
13Let his posterity from earth
cut off for ever be,
And in the foll'wing age their name
be blotted out by thee.
14Let God his father's wickedness
still to remembrance call;
And never let his mother's sin
be blotted out at all.
15But let them all before the Lord
appear continually,
That he may wholly from the earth
cut off their memory.
16Because he mercy minded not,
but persecuted still
The poor and needy, that he might
the broken-hearted kill.
17As he in cursing pleasure took,
so let it to him fall;
As he delighted not to bless,
so bless him not at all.
18As cursing he like clothes put on,
into his bowels so,
Like water, and into his bones,
like oil, down let it go.
19Like to the garment let it be
which doth himself array,
And for a girdle, wherewith he
is girt about alway.
20From God let this be their reward
that en'mies are to me,
And their reward that speak against
my soul maliciously.
21But do thou, for thine own name's sake,
O God the Lord, for me:
Sith good and sweet thy mercy is,
from trouble set me free.
22For I am poor and indigent,
afflicted sore am I,
My heart within me also is
wounded exceedingly.
23I pass like a declining shade,
am like the locust tost:
24My knees through fasting weaken'd are,
my flesh hath fatness lost.
25I also am a vile reproach
unto them made to be;
And they that did upon me look
did shake their heads at me.
26O do thou help and succour me,
who art my God and Lord:
And, for thy tender mercy's sake,
safety to me afford:
27That thereby they may know that this
is thy almighty hand;
And that thou, Lord, hast done the same,
they may well understand.
28Although they curse with spite, yet, Lord,
bless thou with loving voice:
Let them asham'd be when they rise;
thy servant let rejoice.
29Let thou mine adversaries all
with shame be clothed over;
And let their own confusion
them, as a mantle, cover.
30But as for me, I with my mouth
will greatly praise the Lord;
And I among the multitude
his praises will record.
31For he shall stand at his right hand
who is in poverty,
To save him from all those that would
condemn his soul to die.
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Psalms 109
109
Psalm 109
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
A prayer for help in trouble #109:1 In this psalm, the writer asks God to save him from his enemies. Because his enemies do evil things, he asks God to punish them. In verses 6-19, the writer prays that God will punish his enemies. Instead, it may be that these verses are the words of the writer's enemies. These are the cruel words that they speak against him (verses 2-4).
1You are the God that I praise.
Let me hear you speak!
2 Wicked people are saying bad things against me.
They are telling lies about me.
3They are all round me,
and they say cruel things.
I have done nothing against them,
but they still attack me.
4I have loved them,
but they still accuse me.
I will continue to pray for them. #109:4 accuse means ‘to say that someone has done wrong things’. The word comes again in verses 6, 20 and 31. This may happen in a court, where there is a judge. The writer says that his enemies accuse him, when he has not done anything that is wrong. They are telling lies.
5I have been kind to them,
but they do bad things to me in return.
I have loved them,
but they hate me in return.
6Find an evil man to judge my enemy!
Put somebody at his right side to accuse him!
7When they judge him,
show that he is guilty.
Show that even his prayers are a sin.
8Make his life very short!
Let somebody else do the job which he did.
9May he soon die,
so that his children have no father,
and his wife has no husband.
10Cause his children to have no home,
so that they go from place to place,
and ask people to give them food.
11May the people who lent money to my enemy,
take away everything that belonged to him.
Let strangers take everything
that he worked hard to get for himself.
12Do not let anyone be kind to him.
Do not let anyone help his children,
even when they have no father.
13Remove all the descendants in his family.
When his children die,
may nobody remember his family any more!
14 Lord, please remember his ancestors sins.
Please do not forgive his mother's sins.
15 Lord, never forget his family's sins.
May nobody on earth remember his family's name.
16My enemy was never kind to anyone.
He was cruel to poor, weak, and helpless people.
He even caused them to die,
17He loved to curse people.
Now may those curses happen to him!
He never asked God to bless other people,
so nobody will ask God to bless him!
18He always cursed others,
as he always put on clothes.
So those curses have become like his food and drink.
May they go deep inside him,
like olive oil that goes into his bones.
19Then curses will truly be his clothes.
They will be like the belt that he wears every day.
20Yes, Lord, please punish all my enemies like that,
because they say evil things to accuse me!
21You, Almighty Lord, must help me!
Show that your name is great.
Rescue me,
because your faithful love is good.
22I am weak and helpless.
My heart beats fast inside me.
23I will soon be gone,
like a shadow that disappears in the evening.
I am like an insect
that the wind blows away.
24I am so hungry that my knees shake.
I am so thin that my bones show.
25My enemies laugh at me!
When they see me,
they shake their heads at me.
26 Lord my God, please help me!
Please rescue me,
because of your faithful love.
27 Lord, cause my enemies to know
that you are the one who has rescued me.
28They may curse me,
but you will bless me.
When they attack me,
they will become ashamed.
But I will be very happy,
as your servant.
29 Shame will come on my enemies.
It will cover them like a coat.
30I will thank the Lord with a loud voice!
I will praise him,
in front of a big crowd of people.
31He stands beside poor people,
and he is ready to help them.
When cruel people accuse a weak person,
the Lord saves that person's life.
So I will praise the Lord.
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