1 Raja-raja 2:32

2:32 May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; ¹  behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he ²  – Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

1 Raja-raja 2:2

2:2 “I am about to die. ³  Be strong and become a man!

1 Samuel 3:1-2

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ⁴  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

3:2 Eli’s eyes had begun to fail, so that he was unable to see well. At that time he was lying down in his place,

Kisah Para Rasul 5:27

5:27 When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, ⁵  and the high priest questioned ⁶  them,

Mazmur 101:8

101:8 Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land,

and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Mazmur 109:6-15

109:6 ⁷ Appoint an evil man to testify against him! ⁸ 

May an accuser stand ⁹  at his right side!

109:7 When he is judged, he will be found ¹⁰  guilty! ¹¹ 

Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

109:8 May his days be few! ¹² 

May another take his job! ¹³ 

109:9 May his children ¹⁴  be fatherless,

and his wife a widow!

109:10 May his children ¹⁵  roam around begging,

asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! ¹⁶ 

109:11 May the creditor seize ¹⁷  all he owns!

May strangers loot his property! ¹⁸ 

109:12 May no one show him kindness! ¹⁹ 

May no one have compassion ²⁰  on his fatherless children!

109:13 May his descendants ²¹  be cut off! ²² 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ²³ 

109:14 May his ancestors’ ²⁴  sins be remembered by the Lord!

May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! ²⁵ 

109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, ²⁶ 

and cut off the memory of his children ²⁷  from the earth!

Matius 27:25

27:25 In ²⁸  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

[2:32]  ¹ tn Heb “The Lord will cause his blood to return upon his head.”

[2:32]  ² tn Heb “because he struck down two men more innocent and better than he and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know.”

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “going the way of all the earth.”

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “before Eli.”

[5:27]  ⁵ tn Or “the Sanhedrin” (the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[5:27]  ⁶ tn Or “interrogated,” “asked.”

[109:6]  ⁷ sn In vv. 6-19 the psalmist calls on God to judge his enemies severely. Some attribute this curse-list to the psalmist’s enemies rather than the psalmist. In this case one should paraphrase v. 6: “They say about me, ‘Appoint an evil man, etc.’” Those supporting this line of interpretation point out that vv. 2-5 and 20 refer to the enemies’ attack on the psalmist being a verbal one. Furthermore in vv. 1-5, 20 the psalmist speaks of his enemies in the plural, while vv. 6-19 refer to an individual. This use of the singular in vv. 6-19 could be readily explained if this is the psalmist’s enemies’ curse on him. However, it is much more natural to understand vv. 6-19 as the psalmist’s prayer against his enemies. There is no introductory quotation formula in v. 6 to indicate that the psalmist is quoting anyone, and the statement “may the Lord repay my accusers in this way” in v. 20 most naturally appears to be a fitting conclusion to the prayer in vv. 6-19. But what about the use of the singular in vv. 6-19? Often in the psalms the psalmist will describe his enemies as a group, but then speak of them as an individual as well, as if viewing his adversaries collectively as one powerful foe. See, for example, Ps 7, where the psalmist uses both the plural (vv. 1, 6) and the singular (vv. 2, 4-5) in referring to enemies. Perhaps by using the singular in such cases, the psalmist wants to single out each enemy for individual attention, or perhaps he has one especially hostile enemy in mind who epitomizes the opposition of the whole group. This may well be the case in Ps 109. Perhaps we should understand the singular throughout vv. 6-19 in the sense of “each and every one.” For a lengthy and well-reasoned defense of the opposite view – that vv. 6-19 are a quotation of what the enemies said about the psalmist – see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 72-73.

[109:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”

[109:6]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).

[109:7]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.

[109:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).

[109:8]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.

[109:8]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.

[109:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “sons.”

[109:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sons.”

[109:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.

[109:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).

[109:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the product of his labor.”

[109:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”

[109:12]  ²⁰ tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).

[109:13]  ²¹ tn Or “offspring.”

[109:13]  ²² sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

[109:13]  ²³ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

[109:14]  ²⁴ tn Or “fathers’ sins.”

[109:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “not be wiped out.”

[109:14]  sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)

[109:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”

[109:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.

[27:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.