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Psalm 109:8-20  New English Translation

8 May his days be few.[a]
May another take his job.[b]
9 May his children[c] be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children[d] roam around begging,
asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home.[e]
11 May the creditor seize[f] all he owns.
May strangers loot his property.[g]
12 May no one show him kindness.[h]
May no one have compassion[i] on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants[j] be cut off.[k]
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives.[l]
14 May his ancestors’[m] sins be remembered by the Lord.
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten.[n]
15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them,[o]
and cut off the memory of his children[p] from the earth.
16 For he never bothered to show kindness;[q]
he harassed the oppressed and needy,
and killed the disheartened.[r]
17 He loved to curse[s] others, so those curses have come upon him.[t]
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings.[u]
18 He made cursing a way of life,[v]
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil.[w]
19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on,[x]
or a belt[y] one wears continually.
20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way,[z]
those who say evil things about[aa] me.[ab]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 109:8 tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.
  2. Psalm 109:8 tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pequddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.
  3. Psalm 109:9 tn Or “sons.”
  4. Psalm 109:10 tn Or “sons.”
  5. Psalm 109:10 tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vedareshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yegoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shiʾelu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.
  6. Psalm 109:11 tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).
  7. Psalm 109:11 tn Heb “the product of his labor.”
  8. Psalm 109:12 tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”
  9. Psalm 109:12 tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).
  10. Psalm 109:13 tn Or “offspring.”
  11. Psalm 109:13 sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.
  12. Psalm 109:13 tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”
  13. Psalm 109:14 tn Or “fathers’ sins.”
  14. Psalm 109:14 tn Heb “not be wiped out.”sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)
  15. Psalm 109:15 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”
  16. Psalm 109:15 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.
  17. Psalm 109:16 tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”
  18. Psalm 109:16 tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”
  19. Psalm 109:17 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
  20. Psalm 109:17 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
  21. Psalm 109:17 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
  22. Psalm 109:18 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
  23. Psalm 109:18 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the verb from the preterite form וַתָּבֹא (vattavoʾ, “and it came”) to a jussive form וְתָבֹא (vetavoʾ, “and may it come!”).
  24. Psalm 109:19 tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”
  25. Psalm 109:19 tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.
  26. Psalm 109:20 tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the Lord.”
  27. Psalm 109:20 tn Or “against.”
  28. Psalm 109:20 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
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