Let
his days be few. Let another take his office.
Psalm 109:8
Psalm 108 [10.] Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who has led me to Edom?
Haven’t you rejected us, God?
You don’t go out, God, with our armies.
Give us help against the enemy,
for the help of man is vain.
Through God, we will do valiantly.
For it is he who will tread down our enemies.
Psalm 109 [1.] God of my praise, don’t remain silent,
for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me.
They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
and fought against me without a cause.
In return for my love, they are my adversaries;
but I am in prayer.
They have rewarded me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
Set a wicked man over him.
Let an adversary stand at his right hand.
When he is judged, let him come out guilty.
Let his prayer be turned into sin.
Let his days be few.
Let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
Psalm 109 [10.] Let his children be wandering beggars.
Let them be sought from their ruins.
Let the creditor seize all that he has.
Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
Let there be no one to extend kindness to him,
neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off.
In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh.
Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before Yahweh continually,
that he may cut off their memory from the earth;
because he didn’t remember to show kindness,
but persecuted the poor and needy man,
the broken in heart, to kill them.
Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him.
He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him.
He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment.
It came into his inward parts like water,
like oil into his bones.
Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself,
for the belt that is always around him.
Meaning:
Psalm 109 is a prayer of David in a time of bitter betrayal. People he had loved had turned against him with lies and hatred. In verses 6-20 he asks God to bring justice on the leader of his enemies. Verse 8 asks that this man’s life be cut short and that his position be given to someone else. Centuries later Peter applied these words to Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:20).
- “In return for my love, they are my adversaries”
The psalm begins with David’s pain. His enemies “fought against me without a cause.” He says, “They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” This is the betrayal of friendship, one of the deepest wounds a person can suffer. David answers not with violence but with prayer: “but I am in prayer.”
- “Let his days be few. Let another take his office.”
David asks that the wicked man’s days be shortened and that his “office”, his place of responsibility, pass to another. The Greek translation used by the early church renders “office” with a word meaning oversight. Peter saw the words fulfilled when Judas, who “was numbered with us, and received his portion in this ministry” (Acts 1:17), lost his place among the twelve. The believers prayed and chose Matthias to take it.
- How should we read such prayers?
Psalm 109 is one of the psalms that ask God to judge enemies, and many readers find its words hard. Christians have understood them in several ways. Some stress that David is not taking revenge but handing the matter to God, the just Judge. Others note that these psalms were read prophetically, as they are in Acts, as words about the fate of those who betray God’s Anointed. Still others point out that the New Testament calls believers to a different response toward personal enemies. Jesus said, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). On the cross he prayed for those who crucified him (Luke 23:34).
Paul brings these strands together: “Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath” (Romans 12:18-19). Justice belongs to God.
The Significance of Psalm 109:8
- Bringing pain to God
When others wrong us, David’s example teaches us to pour out our hurt honestly to God rather than to take matters into our own hands.
- God’s purposes do not fail
Judas fell, but God’s work went on. Another took his place, and the witness of the twelve continued.
Cross-References:
Acts 1:20: "‘Let another take his office.’" Peter applies the verse to Judas.
Matthew 5:44: "love your enemies, bless those who curse you," Jesus’ command concerning enemies.
Conclusion: In Psalm 109:8 David prays that the life of his treacherous enemy would be short and that another would take his office. Peter saw this fulfilled when Matthias replaced Judas among the twelve. The verse reminds us that justice belongs to God and that his purposes continue even when people betray him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible