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Psalm 109:18
He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
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.
Notice
Cursing becomes a garment, then water and oil inside the body, a severe picture of harm returning to the man who loved it.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do the garment, water, and oil suggest about cursing’s reach in this verse?
Write on thisHow does the persecution of the poor in verse 16 shape your reading of this curse?
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Where else Scripture says this
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Psalm 73:6Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.Both portray wrongdoing as clothing: cursing becomes a garment in Psalm 109, while violence covers people like a garment in Psalm 73.
Numbers 5:22and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”Both portray a curse entering the body’s inward parts, with water named as part of that threatening picture.
Colossians 3:12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;Both use clothing language for what a person takes on: cursing in the psalm, compassion and kindness in Colossians.
Matthew 27:3–5Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,The limited shared thread is wrongdoing and its aftermath: cursing returns upon the man, while Judas feels remorse after betraying Jesus.
Psalm 109:19Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.Verse 19 extends the garment image into a plea that the curse remain around the man like clothing and a belt.
Ezekiel 32:27They will not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war and have laid their swords under …Both connect wrongdoing with bones: cursing enters like oil in the psalm, while Ezekiel describes the fallen warriors’ iniquities upon their bones.
2 Chronicles 21:15and you will have great sickness with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day.’”Both use severe bodily imagery involving the inward parts, though Chronicles describes sickness and the psalm depicts cursing entering a person.
Job 20:20–23Both describe trouble within a person: cursing reaches the inward parts in the psalm, while Job describes a lack of quietness.
1 Peter 5:5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility and subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists …Both use clothing to describe what someone wears in conduct: the man clothes himself with cursing, while Peter commands humility.
Acts 1:18Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness; and falling headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines gushed out.Both connect wrongdoing with a grim bodily picture, though the psalm uses comparisons and Acts reports a man’s body bursting open.
Numbers 5:27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the …Both depict a curse reaching inside the body; Numbers ties that curse to a stated condition of marital unfaithfulness.
Colossians 3:8but now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.Both address destructive speech: the psalm portrays a man clothed in cursing, while Colossians commands putting away slander and shameful speaking.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
This prayer seeks God’s judgment on a man who persecuted the poor. Its severity belongs to that plea for justice; it gives you no warrant to curse someone who has hurt you.
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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).