Psalm 109 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 109 (1928 BCP) is the Psalm Deus, laudem (“O God of my praise”) in the Psalter of the Book of Common Prayer (1928). It is appointed with Psalm 108 for Evening Prayer on the Twenty-second Day of the month. Its unsparing prayer against treachery is held together with its opening response to hatred—“I give myself unto prayer”—and its closing confidence that the Lord stands beside the poor.
Prayer Book Text: Complaint and Prayer
HOLD not thy tongue, O God of my praise; * for the mouth of the ungodly, yea, the mouth of the deceitful is opened upon me. 2 And they have spoken against me with false tongues; * they compassed me about also with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. 3 For the love that I had unto them, lo, they take now my contrary part; * but I give myself unto prayer. 4 Thus have they rewarded me evil for good, * and hatred for my good will.
The Psalm neither calls evil good nor pretends that deceit and gratuitous hatred are harmless. Yet the first personal answer is prayer, not private retaliation. That distinction governs a Christian use of the Psalm's difficult imprecations: they are brought before God's judgment rather than made a licence for the worshipper's vengeance.
Set thou an ungodly man to be ruler over him, * and let an adversary stand at his right hand. 6 When sentence is given upon him, let him be condemned; * and let his prayer be turned into sin. 7 Let his days be few; * and let another take his office. 8 Let his children be fatherless, * and his wife a widow. 9 Let his children be vagabonds, and beg their bread; * let them seek it also out of desolate places. 10 Let the extortioner consume all that he hath; * and let the stranger spoil his labour. 11 Let there be no man to pity him, * nor to have compassion upon his fatherless children. 12 Let his posterity be destroyed; * and in the next generation let his name be clean put out. 13 Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the LORD; * and let not the sin of his mother be done away. 14 Let them alway be before the LORD, * that he may root out the memorial of them from off the earth; 15 And that, because his mind was not to do good; * but persecuted the poor helpless man, that he might slay him that was vexed at the heart. 16 His delight was in cursing, and it shall happen unto him; * he loved not blessing, therefore shall it be far from him. 17 He clothed himself with cursing like as with a raiment, * and it shall come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 18 Let it be unto him as the cloak that he hath upon him, * and as the girdle that he is alway girded withal. 19 Let it thus happen from the LORD unto mine enemies, * and to those that speak evil against my soul.
These verses name judgment in stark terms. Their placement within public psalmody keeps them from being a private script for cursing opponents: the congregation gives the case to the Judge who knows the truth, while the Psalm itself later asks mercy, help, and praise. The New Testament's particular use of verse 7 also gives a focused apostolic connection without exhausting the Psalm's original prayer.
Apostolic and Christological Reading
For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take. Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
Acts applies “let another take his office” to Judas and the filling of the apostolic witness after the Ascension. This is an apostolic application of one line, not permission to flatten every adversary in the Psalm into Judas. The Psalm's first-person grief, its appeal to God, and its final thanksgiving remain essential to its prayerful shape.
Augustine makes the same canonical connection, while reading the Psalm through Christ's innocent suffering and forgiving prayer:
Every one who faithfully reads the Acts of the Apostles, acknowledges that this Psalm contains a prophecy of Christ; for it evidently appears that what is here written, “let his days be few, and let another take his office,” is prophesied of Judas, the betrayer of Christ.
The divine words then teach us by our Lord's example, that when we feel others ungrateful to us, not only in that they do not repay us with good, but even return evil for good, we should pray; He indeed for others who were raging against Him, or in sorrow, or endangered in faith; but we for ourselves in the first place, that we may by the mercy and aid of God conquer our own mind.
Augustine's reading gives theological content to verse 3: prayer is not denial of injustice, but the place where the desire for revenge is surrendered and the enemy is entrusted to God. It also connects the Psalm with Christ's prayer for his persecutors (Luke 23:34), so that the Church prays it as a petition for truth, mercy, and deliverance rather than as a weapon against named persons.
Mercy, Weakness, and Praise
But deal thou with me, O LORD God, according unto thy Name; * for sweet is thy mercy. 21 O deliver me, for I am helpless and poor, * and my heart is wounded within me. 22 I go hence like the shadow that departeth, * and am driven away as the grasshopper. 23 My knees are weak through fasting; * my flesh is dried up for want of fatness. 24 I am become also a reproach unto them: * they that look upon me shake their heads. 25 Help me, O LORD my God; * O save me according to thy mercy; 26 And they shall know how that this is thy hand, * and that thou, LORD, hast done it.
The turn is decisive: “deal thou with me” is grounded not in the speaker's merit but in God's Name and “sweet ... mercy.” The wounded and poor petitioner asks that rescue disclose God's hand. This gives the severe middle of the Psalm its proper horizon—divine justice is sought alongside mercy and the vindication of the helpless.
Though they curse, yet bless thou; * and let them be confounded that rise up against me; but let thy servant rejoice. 28 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame; * and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a cloak. 29 As for me, I will give great thanks unto the LORD with my mouth, * and praise him among the multitude; 30 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, * to save his soul from unrighteous judges.
The final answer to the adversaries' curse is God's blessing and public thanksgiving. The poor person is not saved by winning a contest of accusation; the Lord “stand[s] at the right hand of the poor.” Thus the Psalm's movement ends not in revenge but in praise among the multitude.
John Calvin similarly identifies a threefold movement—complaint, imprecation, and grateful prayer—and refuses to detach the Psalm from the suffering of Christ and his people:
This psalm consists of three parts. It begins with a complaint; next follows an enumeration of various imprecations; and then comes a prayer with an expression of true gratitude. And although David here complains of the injuries which he sustained, yet, as he was a typical character, everything that is expressed in the psalm must properly be applied to Christ, the Head of the Church, and to all the faithful, inasmuch as they are his members; so that when unjustly treated and tormented by their enemies, they may apply to God for help, to whom vengeance belongs.
Calvin's account reinforces the article's liturgical reading: a Christian may pray the Psalm in union with the crucified and risen Head, bring injustice to God, and leave vengeance where Scripture leaves it—with the Lord—while giving thanks in the gathered Church.
Use in the Daily Office
Psalm 109 follows Psalm 108 in the 1928 Psalter's Twenty-second Day, Evening Prayer. After Psalm 108 has confessed that “vain is the help of man,” Psalm 109 gives words for a more personal crisis of false speech, betrayal, and weakness. Its final praise prevents the Office from ending in accusation: God is praised precisely as the defender who stands with the poor.
See Also
- The Psalter (1928 BCP)
- Evening Prayer (1928 BCP)
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Psalm 108 (1928 BCP)
- Psalm 110 (1928 BCP)
External Links
- The 1928 BCP Psalter: Psalms 101–150 (Justus Anglican)
- Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 109
- Calvin, Commentary on Psalm 109
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 109, Deus, laudem, verses 1–4, Twenty-second Day, Evening Prayer, Justus Anglican, “The Psalter (1928),” Psalm 109.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 109, Deus, laudem, verses 5–19, Twenty-second Day, Evening Prayer, Justus Anglican, “The Psalter (1928),” Psalm 109.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised by His Majesty’s Special Command (Authorized Version, 1611), Acts 1:20–22, Bible Gateway, “Acts 1:15–26 KJV”.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 109, §1, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), New Advent, “Exposition on Psalm 109”.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 109, §5, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), New Advent, “Exposition on Psalm 109”.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 109, Deus, laudem, verses 20–26, Twenty-second Day, Evening Prayer, Justus Anglican, “The Psalter (1928),” Psalm 109.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 109, Deus, laudem, verses 27–30, Twenty-second Day, Evening Prayer, Justus Anglican, “The Psalter (1928),” Psalm 109.
- ↑ John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, vol. 4, trans. James Anderson (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1849), Psalm 109, introduction, p. 241, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, “Psalm 109”.