TheBibleNet: Psalm 109

Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles

Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language

This Psalm goes with Ve La Malshinim, the 12th paragraph of the Amidah in today's liturgy - it really isn't very nice! I guess it goes with the curses on Mount Gerizim in Deuteronomy (11:29), which themselves are not unconnected with the story of Bil'am in Numbers 22-24.

Dedication, description, no title, straight into the opening verse.

109:1 LA MENATSE'ACH LE DAVID MIZMOR ELOHEY TEHILATI AL TECHERASH

לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר אֱלֹהֵי תְהִלָּתִי אַל תֶּחֱרַשׁ

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;

BN (BibleNet translation): For the Artistic Director. A Mizmor for David. {N} O god whom I praise, do not keep silent.

MIZMOR: Unlike the previuous Psalm, which is described as SHIR MIZMOR, we are not told where the words come from, so must assume that this was an existing hymn set to music by whoever the unnamed composer of this Psalm was; MIZMOR only indicates the music, not the libretto.

ELOHEY: Such a key reference to the polytheon allows us to reckon an early to middle date for the original text.

109:2 KI PHI RASH'A U PHI MIRMAH ALAI PATACHU DIBRU ITI LESHON SHAKER

כִּי פִי רָשָׁע וּפִי מִרְמָה עָלַי פָּתָחוּ דִּבְּרוּ אִתִּי לְשׁוֹן שָׁקֶר

KJ: 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.

BN: For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken to me with a lying tongue.

ITI: "With me" or "to me", but either way "to his face" rather than "behind his back". "Against me" would be either NEGDI, or ALAI, as in the first part of this sentence.

109:3 VE DIVREY SIN'AH SEVAVUNI VA YILACHAMUNI CHINAM

וְדִבְרֵי שִׂנְאָה סְבָבוּנִי וַיִּלָּחֲמוּנִי חִנָּם

KJ: They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

BN: Words of hatred surround me on all sides, and make war on me without justification.

I am inclined to skip the translation on this occasion, and simply put in a cartoon of Donald Trump pointing his finger at the media while tweeting "Fake News". Plus ça change!

109:4 TACHAT AHAVATI YISTENUNI VA ANI TEPHILAH

תַּחַת אַהֲבָתִי יִשְׂטְנוּנִי וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה

KJ: For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

BN: In return for my love they are my adversaries; but I am all prayer.

YISTENUNI: see my note to SATAN in verse 6, below; the word here is from the same root.

109:5 VA YASIYMU ALAI RA'AH TACHAT TOVAH VE SIN'AH TACHAT AHAVATI

וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלַי רָעָה תַּחַת טוֹבָה וְשִׂנְאָה תַּחַת אַהֲבָתִי

KJ: And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

BN: And they have set evil on me in return for good, and hatred as a reward for my love.

109:6 HAPHKED ALAV RASHA VE SATAN YA'AMOD AL YEMIYNO

הַפְקֵד עָלָיו רָשָׁע וְשָׂטָן יַעֲמֹד עַל יְמִינוֹ

KJ: Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

BN: Set a wicked man over him; and let an adversary stand at his right hand.

SATAN: "Adversary" is the correct translation; however, this is not the demon of Hell of modern fantasy. What is being described here, used as a metaphor, is the proceedings in a court of law, and in Biblical Yisra-El the "other party", the one who is suing you, or whom you are suing, was known as ha-Satan, "the adversary"; this is the original usage of the term, though on this occasion it seems as if Satan may be the technical name for his lawyer/advocate, rather than the plaintiff. Verse 8 appears to confirm this reading. "Defense counsel" and "lawyer for the prosecution" would be equally correct renditions of this. In a university debate in today's world, the "opposition" would also be "ha-Satan".

We have already seen the word used in this meaning in Psalms 38:21 and 71:13, and it will reappear below, in verses 20 and 29. Even more specific in its judicial status are 1 Kings 5:18 and 11:14, 23 and 25. 1 Samuel 29:4 makes him a military adversary. Zechariah 3:1 and 2 takes us into a post-Jobian world, rather closer to the Christian, though Numbers 22:22 (Bil'am, as noted above) already has "the angel of YHVH stood in the way, to oppose him" with the infinitive of the verb, LESATAN, for "to oppose", and this may be the starting-point for the wicked angel who will become the Lucifer of Christian mythology. 1 Chronicles 21:1 also picks this up, but Chronicles is a Samaritan document, and Satan would have been an aspect of their Oannes myth, later feeding the Galilean tales of Jesus. See also 2 Samuel 24:1, and Job 1:6/7, 2:1 ff.

However, for all that explanation, what we have here is neither an angel nor a demon nor a daemon nor a devil, but simply the lawyer who has been told "sue him!". Though it may well be that, in the court of the heavenly metaphor, the lawyers for both defense and prosecution have to be that other convenient metaphor, angels.

109:7 BE HISHAPHTO YETS'E RASHA U TEPHILATO TIHEYEH LA CHATA'AH

בְּהִשָּׁפְטוֹ יֵצֵא רָשָׁע וּתְפִלָּתוֹ תִּהְיֶה לַחֲטָאָה

KJ: When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

BN: When he is judged, let him go forth condemned; and let his prayer be turned into sin.

109:8 YIHEYU YAMAV ME'ATIM PEKUDATO YIKACH ACHER

יִהְיוּ יָמָיו מְעַטִּים פְּקֻדָּתוֹ יִקַּח אַחֵר

KJ: Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

BN: Let his days be few; let another take his charge.

The inversion of the 5th commandment, where "long life" is provided as a reward (Exodus 20:11).

109:9 YIHEYU VANAV YETOMIM VE ISHTO ALMANAH

יִהְיוּ בָנָיו יְתוֹמִים וְאִשְׁתּוֹ אַלְמָנָה

KJ: Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

BN: Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

As I warned you at the beginning, this Psalm isn't always very nice; anger with the man is one thing, but why take vengeance on the wife and children? To which the answer, by legal precedent, appears to lie, inter alia, in Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 5:9...

109:10 VE NO'A YANU'U VANAV VE SHI'ELU VE DARSHU ME CHARVOTEYHEM

וְנוֹעַ יָנוּעוּ בָנָיו וְשִׁאֵלוּ וְדָרְשׁוּ מֵחָרְבוֹתֵיהֶם

KJ: Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

BN: Let his children be vagabonds, and beg; and let them seek in the most desolate places.

NO'A YANU'U: is that one root repeated or two different roots being homophoned?

SHI'ELU: A pun on She'ol?

Where is the bread in this verse? KJ must have added it (indeed, that is why it is italicised).

Which is more or less what both St Paul and St Augustine later advocated for the Jews!

It is not obvious how a verse like this accords with the eternal mercy and compassion of the deity who will always take care of the widows and the orphans etc etc.

109:11 YENAKESH NOSHEH LE CHOL ASHER LO VE YAVOZU ZARIM YEGIY'O

יְנַקֵּשׁ נוֹשֶׁה לְכָל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ וְיָבֹזּוּ זָרִים יְגִיעוֹ

KJ: Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

BN: Seize from the extortionist everything he has, and let strangers reduce his work to nothingness.

109:12 AL YEHI LO MOSHECH CHASED VE AL YEHI CHONEN LIYTOMAV

אַל יְהִי לוֹ מֹשֵׁךְ חָסֶד וְאַל יְהִי חוֹנֵן לִיתוֹמָיו

KJ: Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

BN: Let there be no one to extend kindness to him; nor anyone to treat his fatherless children with compassion.

LIYTOMAV: Many times I have questioned the pronunciation of a prefixed noun, and it is always because of the presence of a sheva under the second letter, which of course is also the first letter, or would be if there were no prefix (see BIVRACHAH in verse 17 below for an example): so how do we determine if it is second letter and therefore silent, or first letter, with the prefix regarded as separate, and therefore pronounced. Here, with LIYTOMAV, we can see the matter from the other side. Prefix LE conjoined, but no sheva, so we have nothing except the silence to pronounce. The sheva is a Masoretic addition - and I would suggest an error, or at the very least a cause of confusion, in this particular case; to resolve it, each time, we have to go back to a pre-Masoretic text - not something most of us are able to do.

109:13 YEHI ACHARIYTO LEHACHRIT BE DOR ACHER YIMACH SHEMAM

יְהִי אַחֲרִיתוֹ לְהַכְרִית בְּדוֹר אַחֵר יִמַּח שְׁמָם

KJ: Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

BN: Let his posterity be cut off; in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

ACHARIYTO LEHACHRIT: As with NO'A YANU'U in verse 10, two completely different roots of remarkably similar sound, though not actually homophones.

We probably all feel this about somebody at some moment of our lives, and may even think it; but to sit down and write it as a Psalm, or even just to set it to music, and sing and play it at the shrine - that requires not just energy but theology, and I cannot for the life of me fathom what sort of followable theology that might be. Is it also feasible that the merciful and compassionate deity would send a signal rejecting the petition: an aneurism or a heart attack, in the middle of a particularly unpleasant verse? Serve the chazan right if he did! - except that that would leave his wife a widow and his children fatherless.

109:14 YIZACHER AVON AVOTAV EL YHVH VE CHATA'T IMO AL TIMACH

יִזָּכֵר עֲוֹן אֲבֹתָיו אֶל יְהוָה וְחַטַּאת אִמּוֹ אַל תִּמָּח

KJ: Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

BN: Let the iniquity of his fathers be brought to remembrance to YHVH, and let his mother's sin not be blotted out.

I am reluctant to say anything more, because anything I say can only be negative, because this is frankly indefensible; however, I cannot hold myself back from saying that this appears to be the same mentality that bulldozes the homes of Palestinians accused of acts of terrorism.

CHAT'AT IMO: What sin was that? Originally, I mean.

YHVH: Was this a late editing, or was ELOHEY in verse 1 a missed edit?

109:15 YIHEYU NEGED YHVH TAMID VE YACHRET ME ERETS ZICHRAM

יִהְיוּ נֶגֶד יְהוָה תָּמִיד וְיַכְרֵת מֵאֶרֶץ זִכְרָם

KJ: Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

BN: Let them be before YHVH eternally, that he may cut off the memory of them from the Earth.

Or maybe he could put up a plaque to them, a memorial to an "extinct race", in Prague, say.

109:16 YA'AN ASHER LO ZACHAR ASOT CHASED VA YIRDOPH ISH ANI VE EVYON VE NICH'EH LEVAV LEMOTET

יַעַן אֲשֶׁר לֹא זָכַר עֲשׂוֹת חָסֶד וַיִּרְדֹּף אִישׁ עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן וְנִכְאֵה לֵבָב לְמוֹתֵת

KJ: Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

BN: Because he remembered not to perform any acts of kindness, {N} but persecuted the poor and needy man, and was ready to slay the broken in heart.

Or have I misread and mistranslated this entirely, and it is all ironic, sardonic, caustic, sarcastic... a mere cartoon?

109:17 VA YE'EHAV KELALAH VA TEVO'EHU VE LO CHAPHETS BIVRACHAH VA TIRCHAK MIMENU

וַיֶּאֱהַב קְלָלָה וַתְּבוֹאֵהוּ וְלֹא חָפֵץ בִּבְרָכָה וַתִּרְחַק מִמֶּנּוּ

KJ: As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

BN: O how he loved cursing - and it came to him; and he took no delight from blessing - and it stayed away from him.

BIVRACHAH: Picking up my comment in verse 12, you can see that the first letter BE = "in" is a preposition conjoined as a prefix, the noun being BERACHAH = "blessing"; because a Bet after a Bet always loses its dagesh, being softened into a Vet, we have BE VERACHAH, not BE BERACHAH; what does the sheva under the second BET then do? In this case it is silent. Now look at BE KIRBO and BE ATSMOTAV in the following verse, both of which I have unjoined, as I do throughout TheBibleNet, when the conjoinment is purely prefictual, and not also an elipsis.

There is a detailed commentary on the literary highlights of this verse in my introductory essay to these Psalms, click here.

109:18 VA YILBASH KELALAH KE MADO VA TAVO CHA MAYIM BE KIRBO VE CHA SHEMEN BE ATSMOTAV

וַיִּלְבַּשׁ קְלָלָה כְּמַדּוֹ וַתָּבֹא כַמַּיִם בְּקִרְבּוֹ וְכַשֶּׁמֶן בְּעַצְמוֹתָיו

KJ: As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

BN (someone else's translation, borrowed; I shan't shame them by naming them, though it is no worse than the KJ above): He clothed himself also with cursing as with his raiment, and it is come into his inward parts like water, and like oil into his bones.

KELALAH: In other words (I am explaining this now because it isn't obvious what "it" refers to in the following verses), let the curses he has wished on others be turned against him: which could be said just the same of this Psalmist!

BN: (paraphrase rather than translation): You wear swear-words the way you wear your daily clothing, and you never clean or change them; so if the clothing rots, may you rot, and if the dyes go mouldy, may your bones go mouldy from wearing them.

109:19 TEHI LO KE VEGED YA'TEH U LE MEZACH TAMID YACHGEREHA

תְּהִי לוֹ כְּבֶגֶד יַעְטֶה וּלְמֵזַח תָּמִיד יַחְגְּרֶהָ

KJ: Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

BN: Let him wear it like the garment he puts on, and use it forever as the belt he ties around his waist.

109:20 ZOT PE'ULAT SOTNAI ME ET YHVH VE HA DOVRIM RA AL NAPHSHI

זֹאת פְּעֻלַּת שֹׂטְנַי מֵאֵת יְהוָה וְהַדֹּבְרִים רָע עַל נַפְשִׁי

KJ: Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

BN: Let these be the damages that YHVH requires from my adversaries, and from those who slander me.

SOTNAI: Again from the same root as in verses 4 and 6 above, and again confirming that this cannot have anything to do with Lucifer. See also verse 29. I have translated it as "damages", because that is what we would expect in an equivalent law-suit in the secular world today, though I am aware that it is a problematic translation: "damages" in the Jewish world (Aramaic for the most part because it is Talmudic) are Nezikin, and you can follow this through for yourself by clicking here. On the other hand, the rot and the mould of my paraphrase of verse 18 are unquestionably "damages".

109:21 VE ATAH YHVH ADONAI ASEH ITI LEMA'AN SHEMECHA KI TOV CHASDECHA HATSIYLENI

וְאַתָּה יְהוִה אֲדֹנָי עֲשֵׂה אִתִּי לְמַעַן שְׁמֶךָ כִּי טוֹב חַסְדְּךָ הַצִּילֵנִי

KJ: But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.

BN: But you, YHVH my Lord, deal with me for your name's sake; {N} because your care is positive, deliver me.

The formal inversion of Leviticus 19:18: Do unto others one way, but do unto me rather differently, and better. The liturgisation of hypocrisy.

109:22 KI ANI VE EVYON ANOCHI VE LIBI CHALAL BE KIRBI

כִּי עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן אָנֹכִי וְלִבִּי חָלַל בְּקִרְבִּי

KJ: For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

BN: For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

ANI...ANOCHI: The play on words nothing like so effective when the full form of "I" is used, rather than the abbreviation ANI.

Maybe you are poor and needy because someone two generations back recited this Psalm, Psalm 109, verses 10 through 14 included, against your ancestor! In which case, serves you right and don't expect verse 21 to be fulfilled.

109:23 KE TSEL KINTOTO NEHELACHTI NIN'ARTI KA ARBEH

כְּצֵל כִּנְטוֹתוֹ נֶהֱלָכְתִּי נִנְעַרְתִּי כָּאַרְבֶּה

KJ: I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

BN: I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.

KINTOTO: Or KI NETOTO? Especially as KE TSEL and KA ARBEH are clearly not elipsed, and the line is functioning on echoes of that comparative; I think the answer here lies in a slightly different usage of KE ("when" rather than "as") with NETOTO.

And yes, these minor points of grammar matter, rather more here in Psalms than in some other books of the Tanach, because the Psalms are lyrics and libretto to accompany song, or text for cantillation or recital, and these differences of vocalisation impact on the scansion, the rhythm, the metre, even the tonality of the word, the phrase, the verse.

109:24 BIRKAY KASHLU MI TSOM U VESARI KACHASH MI SHAMEN

בִּרְכַּי כָּשְׁלוּ מִצּוֹם וּבְשָׂרִי כָּחַשׁ מִשָּׁמֶן

KJ: My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

BN: My knees are shaking from fasting, and my flesh is lean, it has no fat on it.

I wonder what the Prophet Yesha-Yah might say in response to that? Try Isaiah 1:11ff as a starting-point, for the general flavour of his agreement with every word of my commentary on this Psalm; but then go to chapter 58 for the specific for this verse. Bloody Socialist revolutionary, that Yesha-Yah!

109:25 VA ANI HAYIYTI CHERPAH LAHEM YIR'UNI YENIY'UN ROSHAM

וַאֲנִי הָיִיתִי חֶרְפָּה לָהֶם יִרְאוּנִי יְנִיעוּן רֹאשָׁם

KJ: I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.

BN: I have become an object of scorn to them; when they see me, they shake their heads.

109:26 AZRENI YHVH ELOHAI HOSHIY'ENI CHE CHASDECHA

עָזְרֵנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהָי הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי כְחַסְדֶּךָ

KJ: Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:

BN: Help me, YHVH my god; save me according to your loving-kindness.

109:27 VE YED'U KI YADCHA ZOT ATAH YHVH ASIYTAH

וְיֵדְעוּ כִּי יָדְךָ זֹּאת אַתָּה יְהוָה עֲשִׂיתָהּ

KJ: That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.

BN: That they may know that this is your hand, that you, YHVH, have done it.

109:28 YEKALELU HEMAH VE ATAH TEVARECH KAMU VA YEVOSHU VE AVDECHA YISMACH

יְקַלְלוּ הֵמָּה וְאַתָּה תְבָרֵךְ קָמוּ וַיֵּבֹשׁוּ וְעַבְדְּךָ יִשְׂמָח

KJ: Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.

BN: Let them receive the consequences of their own curses; but you will be blessed; when they get up, they shall be put to shame, but your servant shall rejoice.

YEKALELU HEMAH: The grammar is not easy to determine here, because the syntax is not easy to determine here. Let them curse - whether me, the Psalmist or you the deity they reject? Or let they themselves become their own curses, and receive the outcome I petitioned for above? I have gone for the latter, because a choice is required, and KJ has already made the other one. But also because of the verse that follows.

109:29 YILBESHU SOTNAI KELIMAH VE YA'ATU CHA ME'IL BASHTAM

יִלְבְּשׁוּ שׂוֹטְנַי כְּלִמָּה וְיַעֲטוּ כַמְעִיל בָּשְׁתָּם

KJ: Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

BN: My adversaries shall be clothed with confusion, and shall put on their own shame as a robe.

YILBESHU: As in verse 19.

SOTNAI: See my note to verse 20.

109:30 ODEH YHVH ME'OD BE PHI U VETOCH RABIM AHALELENU

אוֹדֶה יְהוָה מְאֹד בְּפִי וּבְתוֹךְ רַבִּים אֲהַלְלֶנּוּ

KJ: I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.

BN: I will give great thanks to YHVH with my mouth, and praise him among the multitude.

109:31 KI YA'AMOD LIYMIYN EVYON LEHOSHI'A MI SHOPHTEY NAPHSHO

כִּי יַעֲמֹד לִימִין אֶבְיוֹן לְהוֹשִׁיעַ מִשֹּׁפְטֵי נַפְשׁוֹ

KJ: For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

BN: Because he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to acquit him on behalf of those who judge his soul. {P}

LEHOSHIY'A: Which is indeed the word that gives us Messiah. But, on this occasion, just as SATAN is not the devil, so the MOSHI'A is not the Ubermensch reincarnate, but again a terminology of the judicial process. And is it pure coincidence that I chose to reference Yesha-Yah, of all the Prophets? His name from the same root, but that is only part of it. What else is he doing in those chapters, if not serving as the attorney for the poor and needy, and demanding their acquittal from social injustice?

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Psalms:

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