1. To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Be not silent, O God of my praise; 2. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue! 3. They surrounded me with words of hatred; and fought against me without cause! 4. In return for my love they are my accusers; but I give myself to prayer! 5. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love! 6. Appoint a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand! 7. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin! 8. Let his days be few; and let another seize his possessions! 9. Let his children become orphans, and his wife a widow! 10. Let his children become vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread from their desolate places! 11. Let the creditor seize everything that he has; and let strangers plunder his labor! 12. Let there be none to extend kindness to him; nor let there be any to favor his orphaned children! 13. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out! 14. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out! 15. Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth! 16. Because he did not remember to perform kindness, but pursued the poor and needy man, and the broken hearted to their death! 17. For he loved cursing, so let it come to him; as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him! 18. And he clothed himself with cursing as his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones! 19. Let it be to him as the garment which he puts on, and as a girdle with which he is girded continually! 20. Let this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my soul! 21. But you, O God the Lord, do for me for your name’s sake; because your loving kindness is good, save me! 22. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me! 23. I am gone like the shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust! 24. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh lacks fatness! 25. I have become a taunt to them; when they see me, they shake their heads! 26. Help me, O Lord my God; O save me according to your loving kindness; 27. That they may know that this is your hand; that you, Lord, have done it! 28. Let them curse, but you bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let your servant rejoice! 29. Let my adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a robe! 30. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; I will praise him among the multitude! 31. For he stands at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn his soul!
Tehillim 109 : Significance
For Protection Against Enemies
Description / commentaries - Tehillim 109
David composed this psalm while fleeing from Saul. At that time he faced many enemies who, despite acting friendly in his presence, spoke only evil of him; he therefore curses them bitterly.