1 For the music director. A psalm of David. God, the one I praise, please don't remain silent, 2 because wicked and deceitful people are attacking me, telling lies about me. 3 They surround me with words of hate, fighting against me for no reason. 4 I love them, but they respond with hostility towards me, even while I'm praying for them! 5 They pay me back with evil instead of good, with hatred instead of love. 6 “Appoint someone wicked over him. Have someone stand as an accuser against him. 7 When he is judged and sentenced, may he be found guilty. Let his prayers be counted as sins. 8 May his life be short; let someone else take over his position. 9 May his children be left fatherless, and his wife become a widow. 10 May his children be homeless, wandering beggars, driven from their ruined houses. 11 May creditors seize all that he owns; may strangers take all that he worked for. 12 May no one be kind to him; may no one take pity on his fatherless children. 13 May his descendants die; may his family name be wiped out in the next generation. 14 May the Lord be reminded of the sins of his fathers; may his mother's sins not be blotted out. 15 May their sins be constantly before the Lord; may his name be totally forgotten by people. 16 For he didn't think to be kind to others, instead he harassed and killed the poor, the needy, the brokenhearted. 17 He loved to put a curse on others—let it come back on him. He had no time for blessings—so may he never receive any. 18 He cursed as often as he got dressed. May his curses go into him like the water he drinks, like the olive oil he rubs on his skin that enters his bones. 19 May his curses stick to him like clothing, may they be pulled tight around him like a belt.” 20 May all this be the punishment of the Lord on my enemies, on those who speak evil of me. 21 But treat me well, Lord God, because of your own reputation. Save me because you are faithful and good. 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is breaking. 23 I am fading away like an evening shadow; I am like a locust that is shaken off. 24 I am so weak from lack of food that my legs give way; my body is just skin and bones. 25 People ridicule me—they look at me and shake their heads! 26 Help me, Lord my God; save me because of your trustworthy love. 27 May they recognize that this is what you are doing—that you are the one who saves me. 28 When they curse me, you will bless me. When they attack me, you will defeat them. And I, your servant, will be happy. 29 May those who accuse me be clothed with disgrace; may they cover themselves with a cloak of shame. 30 But I will keep on thanking the Lord, praising him to everyone around me. 31 For he takes a stand to defend the needy, to save them from those who condemn them.
Psalm 109 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (31)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 28:1; Psalm 83:1; Deuteronomy 10:21; Psalm 35:22–23; Isaiah 42:14
- 2 Psalm 52:4; Psalm 120:2–3; Proverbs 6:17; Psalm 31:13; Proverbs 12:19
- 3 Psalm 69:4; Psalm 35:7; Psalm 35:20; John 15:24–25; Psalm 88:17
- 4 Psalm 38:20; Psalm 35:7; Luke 23:34; Psalm 69:12–13; Psalm 55:16–17
- 5 Psalm 38:20; Proverbs 17:13; Psalm 55:12–15; Genesis 44:4; 2 Samuel 15:31
- 6 Zechariah 3:1; Matthew 5:25; Matthew 27:4; John 13:2; John 13:27
- 7 Proverbs 28:9; Proverbs 21:27; Proverbs 15:8; Galatians 3:10; Matthew 23:13
- 8 Acts 1:16–26; Psalm 55:23; Matthew 27:5
- 9 Exodus 22:24; Jeremiah 18:21; Lamentations 5:3
- 10 Psalm 37:25; Genesis 4:12–14; Isaiah 16:2; 2 Kings 5:27; Psalm 59:15
- 11 Job 5:5; Deuteronomy 28:33–34; Deuteronomy 28:50–51; Deuteronomy 28:29; Job 18:9–19
- 12 Psalm 137:8–9; James 2:13; Matthew 27:25; Luke 6:38; Isaiah 27:11
- 13 Proverbs 10:7; Psalm 37:28; Job 18:19; 1 Samuel 2:31–33; Psalm 21:10
- 14 Exodus 20:5; Nehemiah 4:5; Jeremiah 18:23; Isaiah 43:25; 2 Samuel 3:29
- 15 Psalm 34:16; Job 18:17; Psalm 90:8; Psalm 51:9; Isaiah 65:15
- 16 Psalm 34:18; James 2:13; Matthew 18:33–35; Psalm 37:14; 2 Samuel 16:11–12
- 17 Matthew 7:2; Proverbs 14:14; Psalm 59:12–13; Ezekiel 35:6; Psalm 52:4–5
- 18 Psalm 73:6; Numbers 5:22; Colossians 3:12; Matthew 27:3–5; 1 Peter 5:5
- 19 Psalm 109:29; Psalm 35:26; Psalm 132:18; Psalm 109:18
- 20 2 Timothy 4:14; Psalm 94:23; 1 Kings 2:44; Matthew 11:19; Psalm 110:5–6
- 21 Psalm 31:3; Psalm 69:16; Psalm 79:9–10; Psalm 25:11; Psalm 63:3
- 22 Psalm 40:17; Psalm 86:1; Psalm 102:4; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Psalm 22:6
- 23 Exodus 10:19; Job 14:2; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalm 102:10–11; Psalm 144:4
- 24 Psalm 32:3–4; Matthew 4:2; Psalm 22:14; Hebrews 12:12; Psalm 35:13–14
- 25 Psalm 22:6–7; Romans 15:3; Psalm 69:19–20; Psalm 69:9–12; Job 16:4
- 26 Psalm 119:86; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 69:13; Hebrews 5:7; Psalm 40:12
- 27 Job 37:7; 1 Kings 18:36–37; Exodus 8:19; Acts 4:16; Psalm 126:2
- 28 Numbers 23:20; John 16:22; Psalm 109:17; Hebrews 12:2; Numbers 22:12
- 29 Psalm 35:26; Psalm 132:18; Job 8:22; Jeremiah 20:11; Psalm 109:17–19
- 30 Psalm 111:1; Psalm 35:18; Psalm 22:22–25; Psalm 138:1; Psalm 116:12–18
- 31 Psalm 121:5; Psalm 16:8; Psalm 140:12; Psalm 73:23; Isaiah 54:17
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
I have not thought that the CVIII^th Psalm required an exposition; since I have already expounded it in the LVII^th Psalm, and in the LX^th, of the last divisions of which this Psalm consisteth.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… Judas to be, after being separated from her Enthymesis, was restored or recalled [to her former position]; but Judas was deprived [of his office], and cast out, while Matthias was ordained in his place, according to what is written, "And his bishopric let another take." They ought therefore to maintain that the twelfth Æon was cast out of the Pleroma, …
63. "I am poor and needy," yet better am I while in secret groanings I displease myself, and seek for Thy mercy, until what is lacking in me be renewed and made complete, even up to that peace of which the eye of the proud is ignorant.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
O God, pass not over My praise in silence; for the mouth of the wicked, and the mouth of the deceitful, are opened against Me; they have spoken against Me with a treacherous tongue, they have compassed Me about also with words of hatred.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein; and, His bishoprick let another take;" --thus leading to the completion of the apostles, according to the words spoken by David.