Psalms 109:11-24

11 Let the people to whom he owes money take everything he owns, and let strangers steal everything he has worked for.

12 Let no one show him love or have mercy on his orphaned children.

13 Let all his descendants die and be forgotten by those who live after him.

14 Lord, remember how wicked his ancestors were, and don't let the sins of his mother be wiped out.

15 Lord, always remember their sins. Then make people forget about them completely.

16 "He did not remember to be loving. He hurt the poor, the needy, and those who were sad until they were nearly dead.

17 He loved to put curses on others, so let those same curses fall on him. He did not like to bless others, so do not let good things happen to him.

18 He cursed others as often as he wore clothes. Cursing others filled his body and his life, like drinking water and using olive oil.

19 So let curses cover him like clothes and wrap around him like a belt."

20 May the Lord do these things to those who accuse me, to those who speak evil against me.

21 But you, Lord God, be kind to me so others will know you are good. Because your love is good, save me.

22 I am poor and helpless and very sad.

23 I am dying like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak from hunger, and I have grown thin.

Psalms 109:11-24 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, concerning Judas the betrayer of Christ, as is certain from Acts 1:16 hence it is used to be called by the ancients the Iscariotic psalm. Whether the occasion of it was the rebellion of Absalom, as some, or the persecution of Saul, as Kimchi; and whoever David might have in view particularly, whether Ahithophel, or Doeg the Edomite, as is most likely; yet it is evident that the Holy Ghost foresaw the sin of Judas, and prophesies of that, and of the ruin and misery that should come upon him; for the imprecations in this psalm are no other than predictions of future events, and so are not to be drawn into an example by men; nor do they breathe out anything contrary to the spirit of Christianity, but are proofs of it, since what is here predicted has been exactly accomplished. The title in the Syriac version is, "a psalm of David when they created Absalom king without his knowledge, and for this cause he was slain; but to us it expounds the sufferings of the Christ of God;" and indeed he is the person that is all along speaking in this psalm.