Discovery BoxPsalms 109:1-5 
ContextFor the music director, a psalm of David.
109:1 O God whom I praise, do not ignore me! 2
109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;
they lie to me. 3
109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; 4
they attack me for no reason.
109:4 They repay my love with accusations, 5
but I continue to pray. 6
109:5 They repay me evil for good, 7
and hate for love.
Psalms 109:20
Context1 sn Psalm 109. Appealing to God’s justice, the psalmist asks God to vindicate him and to bring severe judgment down upon his enemies.
2 tn Heb “do not be deaf.”
3 tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”
4 tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”
5 tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”
6 tn Heb “and I, prayer.”
7 tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”
8 tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the
9 tn Or “against.”
10 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
