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Psalm 109

Psalm 109 brings malicious accusation before God, placing severe appeals for judgment beside a wounded man’s plea for help.

A man surrounded by lies and hatred asks God to break his silence. The heading attributes the psalm to David and addresses it to the Chief Musician, though no particular event is named. Love has been repaid with hostility. The middle section calls for severe judgment against an enemy, extending to his family. The speaker then describes his own poverty and bodily weakness, asks for rescue on the grounds of God’s loving kindness, and anticipates public praise.

injustice and angerbroken friendshipchurch hurt
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1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. God of my praise, don’t remain silent,
2for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
3They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
4In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.
5They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.
7When he is judged, let him come out guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin.
8Let his days be few. Let another take his office.
9Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.
11Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
12Let there be no one to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children.
13Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the LORD. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;
16because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.
17Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him.
18He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
19Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.
20This is the reward of my adversaries from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my soul.
21But deal with me, GOD the Lord, for your name’s sake, because your loving kindness is good, deliver me;
22for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
23I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
24My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.
25I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
26Help me, LORD, my God. Save me according to your loving kindness;
27that they may know that this is your hand; that you, LORD, have done it.
28They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.
29Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
30I will give great thanks to the LORD with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the multitude.
31For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected. Tap a number for its page.
Key verses
Psalm 109:31God’s place at the needy person’s right hand reverses the earlier picture of an adversary standing ready to accuse.
Psalm 109:4The speaker’s persistence in prayer frames the harsh petitions that follow as an appeal to God amid betrayed love.
Psalm 109:3The claim of hatred without cause establishes the injustice behind the speaker’s plea for God to act.
Where this chapter reaches

Acts quotes the request that another take the enemy’s office when addressing Judas’s replacement, linking this psalm’s judgment language to that event. Job shares its descriptions of bodily weakness and public scorn, while Jeremiah also brings hostile accusations and appeals for judgment before God.

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After reading the whole chapter

What troubles you about the judgment petitions, especially those concerning the enemy’s family?

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How does the change from an accuser to God at the right hand shape your reading?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 109

Why does Psalm 109 ask for curses on an enemy’s family?

Verses 6–20 seek sweeping judgment, including the loss of family and descendants, and connect it with persecution of the poor. Many readers understand these as the psalmist’s petitions; some understand them as quoted enemy accusations. The text does not mark a quotation. Either reading leaves the severity intact: the requested ruin reaches beyond one person.

What does God standing at the right hand mean in Psalm 109:31?

Verse 6 pictures an adversary at a person’s right hand in a scene of accusation and judgment. Verse 31 places God at the needy person’s right hand to save him from those judging him. The repeated position creates a reversal: God stands beside the vulnerable person as his defender.

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What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).