The Book of Psalms

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 109 -

The song of the slandered

Unto the end. A Psalm of David.

O God, do not be silent toward my praise, for the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful one have been opened against me.

They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues, and they have surrounded me with hateful words, and they fought against me over nothing.

Instead of choosing to act on my behalf, they detracted me. But I gave myself to prayer.(a)

And they set evil against me, instead of good, and hatred, in return for my love.

Establish the sinner over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand.(b)

When he is judged, may he go forth in condemnation, and may his prayer be counted as sin.

May his days be few, and let another take his episcopate.(c)

May his sons be orphans, and his wife a widow.

May his sons be carried by those who walk unsteadily, and may they go begging. And may they be cast out of their dwelling places.(d)

May the money lenders scrutinize all his belongings, and let foreigners plunder his labors.

May there be no one to assist him, nor anyone to be compassionate to his orphaned children.

May his posterity be in utter ruin. In one generation, may his name be wiped away.

May the iniquity of his fathers return in memory before the sight of the Lord, and do not let the sin of his mother be wiped away.

May these be opposite the Lord always, but let their memory perish from the earth.

For certain things are not remembered about them, in order to be merciful.(e)

And so the destitute man was pursued, with the beggar and the remorseful in heart, so as to be put to death.

And he loved a curse, and it came to him. And he was unwilling to have a blessing, and it went far from him. And he clothed himself with curses like a garment, and it entered his inner self like water, and it entered his bones like oil.

May it be to him like a garment that covers him, and like a belt that always cinches him.

This is the work of those who detract me with the Lord and who speak evils against my soul.

But as for you, Lord, O Lord: act on my behalf for your name’s sake. For your mercy is sweet.

Free me, for I am destitute and poor, and my heart has been disquieted within me.

I have been taken away like a shadow when it declines, and I have been shaken off like locusts.

My knees have been weakened by fasting, and my flesh has been replaced by oil.(f)

And I have become a disgrace to them. They saw me, and they shook their heads.

Help me, O Lord, my God. Save me according to your mercy.

And let them know that this is your hand, and that you, O Lord, have done this.

They will curse, and you will bless. May those who rise up against me be confounded. But your servant will rejoice.

May those who detract me be clothed with shame, and may they be covered with their confusion, as if with a double cloak.

I will confess exceedingly to the Lord with my mouth. And I will praise him in the midst of the multitude.

For he stands at the right hand of the poor, in order to save my soul from persecutors.

Footnotes

(a)108:4 The verb ‘diligerent’ can mean ‘to love,’ but it can also mean ‘to choose.’ In this case, his complaint is not that they don’t love him, but that they do not choose (to act) on his behalf or in his favor.(Conte)

(b)108:6 Set you the sinner over him, etc:Give to the devil, that arch-sinner, power over him: let him enter into him, and possess him. The imprecations, contained in the thirty verses of this psalm, are opposed to the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed our Lord; and are to be taken as prophetic denunciations of the evils that should befall the traitor and his accomplices the Jews; and not properly as curses.(Challoner)

(c)108:8 This verse is applied by the Acts of the Apostles to the replacement of Judas Iscariot with Matthias as the twelfth Apostle.(Conte)

(d)108:10 The word ‘Nutantes’ refers to wavering. In other words: may his sons be carried around by those who waver (walk unsteadily).(Conte)

(e)108:16 This verse is more accurately translated loosely. It explains the previous verses, which say that these evil doers will be forgotten through all the earth, but not by God. Their evil deeds will not be remembered for the sake of mercy. The subsequent verses detail some of those evil deeds.(Conte)

(f)108:24 For oil:Propter oleum. The meaning is, my flesh is changed, being perfectly emaciated and dried up, as having lost all its oil or fatness.(Challoner)