The big picture
Psalm 109 is one of the most difficult prayers in The Book of Psalms because wounded petition sits beside curses that reach into a household’s future. The opening complaint centers on lies, hatred, and good repaid with evil. The middle imagines condemnation, lost office, poverty, fatherless children, erased memory, and cursing returned to the one who loved it. The exact voice of that curse sequence is debated, and the chapter gives no quotation marks to settle the issue. What becomes clear by the end is a carefully built reversal. The accuser who stands at a right hand near the beginning is answered by God standing at the right hand of the poor. Hostile mouths remain present, but the final mouth is the petitioner’s, praising in public.
Central truth
Psalm 109 places vicious curses inside the prayer of a falsely accused and wounded worshiper, exposing the gravity of merciless persecution while finally locating rescue in the Lord who stands beside the poor.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Psalms 109:1: “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;”
Slow down at the turning point
Psalms 109:21: “But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, mercy, adversaries, children, continually, hand
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Psalms 109:1-5
Hear what was done first
Begin by refusing to rush to the curses. Read verses 1-5 slowly and list the wrongs: lying mouths, words of hatred, attack without a cause, evil repaid for good, hatred for love. Note David's response in 109:4, “I give myself unto prayer”, which in Hebrew is simply but I am prayer. Explain that this is the cry of a falsely accused man who has done good to his accusers. Teach this first because everything that follows is the prayer of the wronged, not the plotting of the strong.
Psalms 109:6-15
Read the curses honestly
Tell the class plainly that this is hard material, then read it. The curses reach the enemy's trial, his prayers, his office, his children, his wife, his goods, his line and his name. Do not soften them and do not relish them. Explain the courtroom: in 109:6 David asks that the accuser be accused. Note that Acts 1:20 applies 109:8 to Judas. Above all, point out that every word is addressed to God. David hands judgment over; he does not take it into his own hands.
Psalms 109:16-20
Why judgment, in the psalm's own words
Now show the reason the psalm places inside the curses: the enemy “remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart”. He loved cursing and wore it like a garment, so David asks that the curse he chose would come back to him. Explain that the psalm is crying for justice against cruelty to the weak. Teach this here so the class hears the curses as a plea that God stop a man who hunts the vulnerable.
Psalms 109:21-25
The man who prays is the poor man
The tone breaks: “But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake”. Show that David appeals to God's name and good mercy, not to his own merit. Then read his description of himself: poor and needy, a wounded heart, a fading shadow, a locust shaken off, knees weak from fasting, a man people mock. Explain that the one who prayed the hard words of verses 6-20 is this man. Teaching it in this order reveals the psalm as a victim's prayer, which changes how the curses sound.
Psalms 109:26-29
Let them curse, but bless thou
Read 109:28 as the key to the closing section: “Let them curse, but bless thou”. David no longer needs to win against his enemies; he needs God's blessing. He asks that God's hand be seen, “that thou, LORD, hast done it” (109:27), and that his accusers be clothed with shame. Explain that the shame he asks for is the exposure of their lies, the public vindication of an accused man. This step moves the outcome entirely into God's hands and prepares for the final verses.
Psalms 109:30-31
The Lord at the right hand of the poor
End on the reversal. In 109:6 an accuser was to stand at the enemy's right hand; in 109:31 the Lord “shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul”. Explain the picture: God as counsel for the defence. Then bring in Romans 12:19 and Jesus' prayer for those who crucified him in Luke 23:34, not to cancel the psalm but to show where the New Testament takes its handing of vengeance to God. Close with praise, as David does in 109:30.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
“This psalm gives me permission to curse people who hurt me.”
Every curse in 109:6-20 is spoken to God, and the psalm ends by leaving the outcome with him: “Let them curse, but bless thou” (109:28). David does not act on these words; he prays them. The New Testament keeps that direction and goes further: “Recompense to no man evil for evil” (Romans 12:17), and leave vengeance to God (12:19). Teach the psalm as lament handed over to God, never as a licence for revenge in word or deed.
“Godly people should never feel anger like this.”
The psalm is in Scripture, and it gives words to a man lied about, hated without cause and hunted as poor and broken (109:2-5, 16, 22). Anger at real evil is not sin in itself; what matters is what we do with it, and David takes his to God. For anyone who has suffered abuse or betrayal, this psalm can show that God is not shocked by their pain and that he is the right one to bring it to.
“The children in verses 9-10 are being punished for their father.”
These verses are hard, and a teacher should say so. They reflect an ancient world in which a man's household rose and fell with him, and they are the anguished prayer of a victim, not a law describing how God judges. Ezekiel 18:20 states plainly that a son does not bear his father's iniquity. Do not build doctrine about children on these lines, and handle them gently, especially when children are present.
“Acts 1:20 means the whole psalm is only about Judas.”
Peter applies 109:8, “let another take his office”, to Judas because Judas betrayed the one who had loved him, which matches 109:4-5. But the psalm has its own setting first: a falsely accused man and a merciless enemy. Teach both, the original prayer and the way the apostles saw its pattern fulfilled in the betrayal of Jesus. The later use does not erase the earlier meaning.
“If I pray this psalm, I am hoping someone is damned.”
The psalm asks for justice in this life, the exposure and end of a cruel persecutor, and it asks God to do it. It says nothing about anyone's eternal destiny. Jesus taught his followers to pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44), and a Christian can bring the honest pain of this psalm to God while also praying for the enemy's repentance. Leave that tension in God's hands, as David does.
Learning objectives
- Identify the accusations against David in verses 1–5.
- Trace the severity and logic of verses 6–20.
- Explain the contrast between two right-hand figures.
- Distinguish imprecatory prayer from personal execution of revenge.
- Show how David’s poverty and weakness shape verses 21–29.
- Explain why public praise closes the psalm.
Teacher preparation
- Read the whole psalm before deciding how to teach the curse section; verses 1–5 and 21–31 frame it.
- Mark every accusation against the enemies: lying, hatred, evil for good, cursing, and persecution of the poor.
- Notice verse 6’s adversary at the right hand and verse 31’s Lord at the right hand of the poor.
- Review Acts 1:20, which applies verse 8 to Judas, but do not let that later use erase Psalm 109’s own setting.
- Tell the room plainly that this is hard material. Do not turn its curses into slogans or permission for retaliation.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Verses 2–5 explicitly describe lying speech, hatred without cause, and evil repaid for love while David gives himself to prayer.
Scripture-supported
Verse 16 supports the moral logic of the curse section: the condemned person did not remember mercy and persecuted the poor, needy, and brokenhearted.
Strong inference
The right-hand contrast strongly suggests a reversal: verse 6 pictures an accuser at the defendant’s side, while verse 31 pictures the Lord there to save the poor.
Possible or traditional reading
Interpreters debate whether verses 6–19 quote the enemies or express David’s petition; the KJV reads naturally as imprecation, but acknowledge the dispute.
Limit
Psalm 109 does not authorize individuals to pronounce these exact judgments casually against personal opponents, nor does it remove other biblical commands concerning mercy and enemy-love.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What has happened before the curses begin?
What a good answer contains
Verses 1-5 set the scene. The enemies have opened “the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful” against David and spoken “with a lying tongue” (109:2); they surrounded him “with words of hatred” and “fought against me without a cause” (109:3). Worst of all, “For my love they are my adversaries”, and “they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love” (109:4-5). His response is “I give myself unto prayer”. A good answer starts here. A weak answer starts with the curses and judges David before hearing what was done to him.
Show teacher guidance
Verses 1–5 must control the discussion: David describes lies, hatred, unprovoked attack, and evil returned for love.
2. What reason for judgment appears inside the curse section itself?
What a good answer contains
109:16 gives it: “Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.” The enemy is not merely unpleasant; he is a merciless persecutor of the weak who seeks their death. Verse 17 adds that “he loved cursing” and “delighted not in blessing”. A good answer sees that the curses ask for the enemy's own conduct to come back on him. A weak answer misses verse 16 and reads the curses as personal spite.
Show teacher guidance
Verse 16 points to merciless persecution of the poor, needy, and brokenhearted, not mere personal annoyance.
3. Why are the curses so disturbing?
What a good answer contains
Because they reach everything a person has. His office: “let another take his office” (109:8). His family: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow” (109:9). His goods: “let the strangers spoil his labour” (109:11). His memory: “let their name be blotted out” (109:13). A good answer feels the weight honestly and does not explain it away, and notices that every curse is spoken to God rather than carried out by David. A weak answer either enjoys the curses or pretends they are not there.
Show teacher guidance
They reach office, family, property, memory, and future generations. Do not sanitize that severity or enjoy it.
4. What changes at verse 21?
What a good answer contains
The address turns from the enemy to God: “But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me” (109:21). David stops speaking about what should happen to his accuser and asks God to act for him, on the ground of God's own name and mercy. A good answer marks the word But and the two reasons. A weak answer reads the rest of the psalm as more cursing.
Show teacher guidance
David turns from judgment on the adversary to direct pleas for God to act for his name’s sake and good mercy.
5. How weak does David describe himself?
What a good answer contains
Very weak: “I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me” (109:22); fading “like the shadow when it declineth”, tossed “as the locust” (109:23); knees “weak through fasting” and flesh failing (109:24); a reproach to people who “shaked their heads” (109:25). A good answer sees that the man who prayed verses 6-20 is himself the kind of poor and needy man the enemy persecuted in verse 16. A weak answer imagines David as a powerful man crushing a rival.
Show teacher guidance
Use verses 22–25: poor, needy, wounded, fading like shadow, weak from fasting, and mocked.
6. Why does verse 31 matter after verse 6?
What a good answer contains
Because the right hand frames the psalm. In 109:6 David asks that Satan, the accuser, stand “at his right hand”, the place of the prosecutor in court. In 109:31 the Lord “shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul”. The last word is not the enemy's ruin but God as defender. A good answer sees the courtroom picture and its reversal. A weak answer misses the link between the two verses.
Show teacher guidance
The final image replaces hostile accusation at the right hand with the Lord standing at the poor person’s right hand to save.
Responsible application
Hand judgment to God
Use the psalm to distinguish naming severe injustice in prayer from personally carrying out the vengeance requested.
Protect the poor in the reading
Keep verse 16 central so the class sees that contempt for vulnerable people is part of the psalm’s moral indictment.
End at the right hand
Contrast verses 6 and 31 and let the final image of divine advocacy govern the closing response.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Say that it is hard
Tell the group that this psalm contains curses and that you will read them honestly. Read 109:1-5 and take question one.
The curses
Read 109:6-15 without comment, then take question three. Note that every line is spoken to God.
The reason
Read 109:16-20 and take question two.
But do thou for me
Read 109:21-25 and take questions four and five.
Handed to God
Read 109:26-31. Take question six, then confusions one and two.
Handout and prayer
Give out the handout, read the key verse together, and pray for anyone who has been wronged, and for enemies, as Jesus taught.
90 minutes
Where anger goes
Ask, without inviting personal accounts, where people tend to take their anger when they have been wronged. Explain that this psalm takes it to God.
Love repaid with hatred
Read 109:1-5 and take question one.
The curses
Read 109:6-15 and take question three, then confusion three on the children.
The merciless man
Read 109:16-20 and take question two.
The poor man praying
Read 109:21-25 and take questions four and five.
The right hand
Read 109:26-31 and take question six. Put 109:6 and 109:31 side by side on the board.
Judas and the apostles
Read Acts 1:15-20 and take confusion four.
What a Christian does with this
Read Romans 12:14-21 and Matthew 5:43-45, then take confusions one, two and five.
Handout and prayer
Give out the handout, read the key verse together, and pray, leaving judgment with God.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Do not read the curses with young children. Tell them that people told lies about David and were unkind even though he had been kind to them, and that David told God exactly how upset he was. Read 109:4 and 109:31 in simple words, and say that God stands next to people who are hurt. Ask them which adult they can tell when someone is unkind to them.
Youth
Young people know about being lied about and ganged up on, online and off. Read 109:1-5 and ask how that feels. Then read a few of the curses and ask whether it is right to pray like this. Show them that David gives his anger to God instead of taking revenge, and read Romans 12:19. If anyone is being bullied, make sure they know which adult to tell.
Adults
Adults need the whole psalm and the hard questions: what this kind of prayer is, why it is in Scripture, how Acts 1:20 uses it, and how Romans 12 and Matthew 5 shape a Christian reading. Some in the room may have suffered abuse or betrayal; let the psalm honour their pain without feeding bitterness. Keep the discussion on handing judgment to God.
One to one
If the person has been badly wronged, this psalm may say what they cannot. Let them read it, and do not rush to correct their anger. Point to 109:21 and 109:31, where the psalm comes to rest: God's mercy and his place beside the poor. If abuse is involved, make sure they are safe and know where to get help, and never press them toward a reconciliation the situation does not allow.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Psalms 109:1–31
The passage in brief
Psalm 109 is the prayer of a man who has been lied about and attacked without cause by people he loved. He asks God to judge his merciless enemy, and his words are very hard. But he says them to God instead of taking revenge himself. Then he turns to God for help, admits how poor and weak he is, and trusts that the Lord stands at the right hand of the poor to save them. The psalm shows us where to take our anger and our pain.
A verse to keep
For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
Psalms 109:31 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What had been done to David, according to 109:1-5?
To whom does David speak when he is angry, and why does that matter?
Where does the Lord stand, according to 109:31?
This week
When you are wronged this week, tell God honestly how you feel and leave the judgment with him.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
