Psalms 109:28

They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.

BSB

Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

KJV

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

ASV

Let them curse, but bless thou: When they arise, they shall be put to shame, But thy servant shall rejoice.

BBE

They may give curses but you give blessing; when they come up against me, put them to shame; but let your servant be glad.

Original Hebrew

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The early church

"Let my slanderers be clothed with shame" [Psalm 109:28]: that is, let it shame them to have slandered me. But this may also be understood as a blessing, in that they are amended. "And let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a double cloak;" for diplois is a double cloak; that is, let them be confounded both within and without: both before God and before men.
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 21–31

The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed; nay, whom he has blessed? He pleads God's glory, and the honour of his name. Save me, not according to my merit, for I pretend to none, but according to thy-mercy. He concludes with the joy of faith, in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. Let all that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him. Jesus, unjustly put to death, and now risen again, is an Advocate and Intercessor for his people, ever ready to appear on their behalf against a corrupt world, and the great accuser.

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Spurgeon · Verse 28

Let them curse, but bless thou, or, they will curse and thou wilt bless. Their cursing will then be of such little consequence that it will not matter a straw. One blessing from the Lord will take the poison out of ten thousand curses of men. When they arise, let them be ashamed. They lift up themselves to deal out another blow, to utter another falsehood, and to watch for its injurious effects upon their victim, but they see their own defeat and are filled with shame. But let thy servant rejoice. Not merely as a man protected and rescued, but as God's servant in whom his master's goodness and glory are displayed when he is saved from his foes. It ought to be our greatest joy that the Lord is honoured in our experience; the mercy itself ought not so much to rejoice us as the glory which is thereby brought to him who so graciously bestows it.

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Cross-references

11

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.