Vengeance invoked upon adversaries.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
109 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have they opened against me:
They have spoken [a]unto me with a lying tongue.
3 They have compassed me about also with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries:
But I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have [b]rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him;
And let [c]an adversary stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him come forth guilty;
And let his prayer [d]be turned into sin.
8 Let his days be few;
And let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be vagabonds, and beg;
And let them seek their bread [e]out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner [f]catch all that he hath;
And let strangers make spoil of his labor.
12 Let there be none to [g]extend kindness unto him;
Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off;
In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah;
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before Jehovah continually,
That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he remembered not to show kindness,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
And the broken in heart, to slay them.
17 Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him;
And he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.
18 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment,
And it came into his inward parts like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the raiment wherewith he covereth himself,
And for the girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 This is the reward of mine adversaries from Jehovah,
And of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But deal thou with me, O Jehovah the Lord, for thy name’s sake:
Because thy lovingkindness is good, deliver thou me;
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it [h]declineth:
I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees [i]are weak through fasting;
And my flesh faileth of fatness.
25 I am become also a reproach unto them:
When they see me, they shake their head.
26 Help me, O Jehovah my God;
Oh save me according to thy lovingkindness:
27 That they may know that this is thy hand;
That thou, Jehovah, hast done it.
28 Let them curse, but bless thou:
When they arise, they shall be put to shame,
But thy servant shall rejoice.
29 [j]Let mine adversaries be clothed with dishonor,
And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
30 I will give great thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth;
Yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he will stand at the right hand of the needy,
To save him from them that judge his soul.
Footnotes
- Psalm 109:2 Or, against
- Psalm 109:5 Hebrew laid upon me.
- Psalm 109:6 Or, Satan. Or, an accuser
- Psalm 109:7 Or, become
- Psalm 109:10 Or, far from
- Psalm 109:11 Hebrew snare.
- Psalm 109:12 Or, continue
- Psalm 109:23 Or, is stretched out
- Psalm 109:24 Or, totter
- Psalm 109:29 Or, Mine adversaries shall be clothed . . . And they shall cover etc.