This is the second of a sequence of three psalms by David. This is an imprecatory psalm, one in which David calls for punishment and destruction on those who have so evilly betrayed him.
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
Psalm 109:1-5, Betrayed
O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,
for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me;
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
With words of hatred they surround me;
they attack me without cause.
In return for my friendship they accuse me,
but I am a man of prayer.
They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my friendship.
David begins briefly with a statement of praise. But he is betrayed by deceitful men who tell ugly lies about him and David needs help. David has been a man of prayer -- and probably prayed for this man -- but now David's prayers have changed. (Alter says that the last line of verse 4 is literally, "and I am prayer" and suggests an interpretation that follows the Syriac manuscript, "my prayer is for them.")
David has been the friend of this enemy but he (they?) return his friendship with hatred. There is a anti-symmetry in their response to David's actions. Now David will begin to ask that the evil of his enemy be reflected back on the man.
Psalm 109:6-7. Appoint an evil man
Appoint an evil man to oppose him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.
Because these people repay David's friendship with hatred, his goodness with evil, David now asks that they too face an evil person, an accuser who tries him, so that even the prayers of these people turn against them.
The Hebrew word translated "accuser" is satan. In this case the accuser is a human. In Job 1:6 and Zechariah 3:1 the accuser is a supernatural being. In the Zechariah passage, the accuser stands at the right side of the accused, as is described here.
The psalm begins with a plural "them" but now begins to focus on a single enemy. Some commentators claim that now, from verse 6 to verse 20, David is quoting his enemies and that it is not David who is so angry and saying these things. But Kidner argues that the singular in this passage could be a natural Hebrew way to say "for each of them, I wish..." Kidner writes (p. 389), "To make the enemy the speaker of this appalling curse [in verses 6-20] is to rid the psalm of its chief affront to our sensibilities." David has a right to be angry and he naturally carries that to God. (Kidner sees confirmation of this view in Peter's speech in Acts 1:15-22 which does indeed have a quote from this psalm, verse 8, below.)
Psalm 109:8-10, Wandering beggars
May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.
May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be drive from their ruined homes.
Now the "cursing" (imprecations) begin. David asks that this enemy's days be few, that his children lose their father, his wife her husband and that the family be destitute and ruined.
The second line of verse 8 is apparently quoted by Peter in the last line of Acts 1:20.
Psalm 109:11-12, No kindness to him!
May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
The imprecations continue -- may the man's possessions be taken, his fields plundered, his destitute children ignored. There is no fake diplomacy or religious platitudes here -- David is angry and his emotions raw.
Psalm 109:13-15, Names blotted out
May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.
May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
May their sins always remain before the LORD,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The man's children are themselves to be childless and the man's name lost to history.
This is a classic example of an imprecatory psalm! "May all the evil things this man has done rebound upon him and his family!" cries David.
Psalm 109:16-17, He loved to pronounce a curse
For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.
He loved to pronounce a curse-- may it come on him;
he found no pleasure in blessing-- may it be far from him.
This man's evil was not just betrayal of David -- the individual abused and oppressed the poor. May the curses of this evil man, asks David, rebound to him -- this evil man hounded to death the poor and needy -- may he himself be hounded to death.
Psalm 109:18-20, Cursing as a garment
He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil.
May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
like a belt tied forever around him.
May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil of me.
This betrayer is portrayed as wearing cursing as a garment and indeed, this characteristic seeps into his bones and body. But if he embodies cursing, eventually cursing begins to overcome him. (I am reminded of Gollum and the ring in the Lord of the Rings novels, as Gollum begins to morph into evil.)
Psalm 109:21-25, But I lean on Your love
But you, O Sovereign LORD,
deal well with me for your name's sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.
I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
David has made a decision, to lean on YHWH's goodness and beg for deliverance. David is shaking, hurt, knees sore from fasting and praying. He has been tossed aside, flicked away like one might brush off an insect. He is an object of scorn.
Psalm 109:26-29, According to Your love
Help me, O LORD my God;
save me in accordance with your love.
Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O LORD, have done it.
They may curse, but you will bless;
when they attack they will be put to shame,
but your servant will rejoice.
My accusers will be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
Like Job in his affliction, David laments that his suffering leads to others taunting and scorning him.
Psalm 109:30-31, I will extol YHWH
With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;
in the great throng I will praise him.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save his life from those who condemn him.
The psalm began with a single line of praise. It turns back to praise at the end. David has thrown all his anger and hurt in God's direction. Now he promises to praise God and stand with the needy and oppressed. David's anger (and cursing) is replaced by praise.
Some Hebrew vocabulary
Our Hebrew word for the day is satan, accuser,
שָׂטָן
In this psalm it identifies a human being but in other places it represent a supernature accuser.
Some Random Thoughts
I appreciate the imprecatory psalms. Like David, I think we should carry all our concerns, including our anger and bitterness, to God. And then let Him respond as He sees fit.
First published October 16, 2025; updated October 16, 2025
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