Purpose: To appeal to YHWH’s loyalty to bring justice on disloyalty.
Content: My enemies have broken their covenant with me (vv. 2-5, 16-20) and I am innocent and afflicted (vv. 2-15, 22-25. And you are loyal in your covenant with me (vv. 21, 26). Therefore, YHWH, execute justice by punishing my enemies (vv. 6-20) and vindicating me (vv. 21-31)!
Message: YHWH remains loyal to his covenant even when humans are disloyal to their own.
2. For they have opened their wicked and deceitful mouths against me.
They have spoken with me with lying tongues.
3. And they have surrounded me with hateful words,
and they have fought against me for no reason.
4. In exchange for my love they accuse me
—though I am devoted to prayer—
5. and they give me wrong in exchange for good
and hate in exchange for my love.
6. Appoint a wicked person against him,
and may an accuser stand at his right!
7. When he is judged, may he come away guilty,
and may his prayer become a sin!
8. May his days be few!
May someone else take his position!
9. May his children become fatherless,
and his wife [become] a widow!
10. And may his children aimlessly wander from their ruins
and beg and plead!
11. May a lender seize everything belonging to him,
and may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor!
12. May he have no one to maintain loyalty,
and may his fatherless children have no one to show them mercy!
13. May his posterity be doomed to destruction!
May their name be wiped out in the next generation!
14. May his ancestors' iniquities be brought to YHWH's remembrance,
and may his mother's sin not be wiped away!
15. May they always be before YHWH,
so that he destroys their memory from the earth!
16. Because he was not mindful to show loyalty,
and he persecuted someone afflicted and poor
and disheartened to finish him off.
17. And he loves cursing, and so it will come upon him,
and he takes no pleasure in blessing, and so it will stay far from him.
18. And he put on a curse like his garment,
and it went inside him like water
and into his body like oil.
19. May it be for him like clothes [that] he wears,
and [may it become] a belt [that] he always puts on!
20. This is what my accusers, those who speak evil against me,
have earned from YHWH.
21. But you, YHWH, Lord, take action for me, for the sake of your name!
Because your loyalty is good, rescue me!
22. For I am afflicted and poor,
and my heart is in anguish inside me.
23. Like a shadow when it is stretched out, I have faded.
I have been shaken off like a locust.
24. My knees have faltered from fasting,
and my body has become gaunt, without any fat.
25. And I have become an object of scorn to them.
When they see me, they shake their heads.
26. Help me, YHWH, my God!
Save me according to your loyalty,
27. so that they know that this is your doing;
[that] you, YHWH, have done it.
28. Let them curse! But you will bless.
Those who have risen up against me will come to shame, but your servant will rejoice.
29. My accusers will be clothed in dishonor
and wear their shame like a robe.
30. I will fully acknowledge YHWH with my mouth,
and I will praise him in the midst of many people.
31. For he stands at a poor person's right,
to save him from those who condemn him to death.
The Close-but-clear translation (CBC) exists to provide a window into the Hebrew text according to how we understand its syntax and word-to-phrase-level semantics. It is not intended to be used as a stand-alone translation or base text, but as a supplement to Layer-by-Layer materials to help users make full use of these resources.
For links to other translations of Psalm 109, click here.
