Psalm 109 is the cry of an innocent man repaid with hatred for his love: “O God, be not thou silent in my praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me… Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer.” Its long series of curses is the harshest in the Psalter, and St. Peter applied one of its verses to Judas. In the Douay-Rheims it is numbered Psalm 108. Below is the full Catholic text, what the psalm means, how the Church uses it, and a prayer.
Psalm 109 in the Douay-Rheims Bible
Unto the end, a psalm for David.
O God, be not thou silent in my praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.
They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause.
Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer.
And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.
Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand.
When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin.
May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take.
May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings.
May the usurer search all his substance: and let strangers plunder his labours.
May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless offspring.
May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out.
May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth:
because he remembered not to shew mercy,
But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death.
And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.
May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually.
This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul.
But thou, O Lord, do with me for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me,
for I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me.
I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am shaken off as locusts.
My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil.
And I am become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked their heads,
Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to thy mercy.
And let them know that this is thy hand: and that thou, O Lord, hast done it.
They will curse and thou will bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice.
Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with their confusion as with a double cloak.
I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will praise him.
Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors.
Psalm 109 or Psalm 108?
The Douay-Rheims Bible follows the numbering of the Latin Vulgate and the Greek Septuagint, while most modern Bibles follow the Hebrew. So the Douay’s Psalm 108 is Psalm 109 in the New American Bible and other modern translations. In Latin the psalm begins Deus, laudem meam ne tacueris. See how many psalms are there?
Judas and the choice of Matthias
When the Apostles chose a successor to Judas, St. Peter quoted this psalm:
For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let their habitation become desolate, and let there be none to dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take.
How Christians pray it
Psalm 109 is one of three psalms, with Psalms 58 and 83, that the Church leaves out of the four-week Liturgy of the Hours because of its curses. The Church Fathers read its curses as prophecies of the fate of those who betray Christ, not as words we should wish on anyone. Christians can pray its first and last parts as their own: the anguish of being repaid “evil for good: and hatred for my love,” the decision to answer with prayer, and the trust of its last verses: “Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to thy mercy.” Christ, betrayed by a friend, answered with prayer for his enemies (Luke 23:34).
What the psalm means
- Love repaid with hatred: “they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.”
- Answering with prayer: “but I gave myself to prayer.”
- The curses: a terrible list of punishments, which the New Testament applies to Judas.
- Trust in God’s mercy: “Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to thy mercy.”
- God stands with the poor: he “hath stood at the right hand of the poor.”
How the Church uses Psalm 109
- Omitted from the Liturgy of the Hours, with Psalms 58 and 83, because of its curses.
- For the betrayed, as a prayer that answers hatred with prayer. See the Catholic prayer for forgiveness.
A prayer with Psalm 109
Written for this page:
O God whom I praise, do not be silent.
I have been repaid evil for good and hatred for my love; but I give myself to prayer.
Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to your mercy.
Like Jesus on the Cross, let me pray even for those who wound me. Amen.
Frequently asked questions
How is Psalm 109 connected to Judas?
St. Peter quoted its verse “his bishopric let another take” when the Apostles chose Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:20).
Why is Psalm 109 not in the Liturgy of the Hours?
Because of its curses; the Church omits Psalms 58, 83 and 109 from the four-week psalter.
More psalms and prayers
Texts and sources
- Scripture: Psalm 108 (109); Acts 1:20; Luke 23:34, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- The prayer was written for this page.