Psalms 109:20

New Century Version

May the Lord do these things to those who accuse me, to those who speak evil against me.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,to those who speak evil against me.

Hebrew Names Version
This is the reward of my adversaries from the LORD, Of those who speak evil against my soul.

King James Version
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord , and of them that speak evil against my soul.

English Standard Version
May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord , of those who speak evil against my life!

New English Translation
May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, those who say evil things about me!

Amplified Bible
Let this be the reward of my attackers from the LORD, And of those who speak evil against my life.

New American Standard Bible
May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who speak evil against my soul.

World English Bible
This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, Of those who speak evil against my soul.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Let this be the rewarde of mine aduersarie from the Lord, and of them, that speake euill against my soule.

Legacy Standard Bible
This is the reward of my accusers from Yahweh,And of those who speak evil against my soul.

Berean Standard Bible
May this be the LORD's reward to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me.

Contemporary English Version
Those are the cruel things my enemies wish for me. Let it all happen to them!

Complete Jewish Bible
This is what my adversaries want Adonai to do, those who speak evil against me.

Darby Translation
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from Jehovah, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

Easy-to-Read Version
My enemies said these evil things against me. But may those curses be the way the Lord punishes them.

George Lamsa Translation
These are the deeds of those who reproach the LORD, and of those who speak evil against me.

Good News Translation
Lord , punish my enemies in that way— those who say such evil things against me!

Lexham English Bible
Let this be the punishment for my accusers from Yahweh, even those who speak evil against my life.

Literal Translation
This is the reward of my foes from Jehovah, and of those who speak evil against my soul.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But deale thou with me (o LORDE God) acordinge vnto thy name, for swete is thy mercy.

American Standard Version
This is the reward of mine adversaries from Jehovah, And of them that speak evil against my soul.

Bible in Basic English
Let this be the reward given to my haters from the Lord, and to those who say evil of my soul.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
This would mine adversaries effect from the LORD, and they that speak evil against my soul.

King James Version (1611)
Let this be the reward of mine aduersaries from the Lord: and of them that speake euill against my soule.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Let this rewarde be from God vnto myne aduersaries: and vnto those that speake euill against my soule.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
This is the dealing of the Lord with those who falsely accuse me, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

English Revised Version
This is the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
This is the werk of hem that bacbiten me anentis the Lord; and that speke yuels ayens my lijf.

Update Bible Version
This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, And of those that speak evil against my soul.

Webster's Bible Translation
[Let] this [be] the reward of my adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

New King James Version
Let this be the LORD's reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person.

New Living Translation
May those curses become the Lord 's punishment for my accusers who speak evil of me.

New Life Bible
Let this be what the Lord pays to those who speak against me and wish bad things would happen to me.

New Revised Standard
May that be the reward of my accusers from the Lord , of those who speak evil against my life.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
This, be the reward of mine accusers, from Yahweh, even of them who are speaking wrongfully against my life.

Douay-Rheims Bible
(108-20) This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul.

Revised Standard Version
May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!

Young's Literal Translation
This [is] the wage of mine accusers from Jehovah, And of those speaking evil against my soul.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Let this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord , And of those who speak evil against my soul.

Contextual Overview

⁶ They say about me, "Have an evil person work against him, and let an accuser stand against him. ⁷ When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let even his prayers show his guilt. ⁸ Let his life be cut short, and let another man replace him as leader. ⁹ Let his children become orphans and his wife a widow. ¹⁰ Make his children wander around, begging for food. Let them be forced out of the ruins in which they live. ¹¹ Let the people to whom he owes money take everything he owns, and let strangers steal everything he has worked for. ¹² Let no one show him love or have mercy on his orphaned children. ¹³ Let all his descendants die and be forgotten by those who live after him. ¹⁴ Lord , remember how wicked his ancestors were, and don't let the sins of his mother be wiped out. ¹⁵ Lord , always remember their sins. Then make people forget about them completely.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Let this: Psalms 2:5, Psalms 2:6, Psalms 2:12, Psalms 21:8-12, Psalms 40:14, Psalms 40:15, Psalms 110:1, Psalms 110:5, Psalms 110:6, 2 Samuel 17:23, 2 Samuel 18:32, 1 Kings 2:44, Luke 19:27, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 2:16

them: Matthew 11:19, Matthew 12:24, Matthew 26:66, Matthew 26:67, Mark 9:39, 1 Corinthians 12:3

Reciprocal: Psalms 109:6 - Set thou

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord,.... Who were so many Satans, as the word used signifies; and Judas particularly is called a devil; and of the same malevolent and diabolical disposition were the Jews in general, John 6:70 and what is before imprecated upon them is the just recompence of reward for their hatred to Christ and ill usage of him.

And of them that speak evil against my soul; or "life" f; in order to take it away, as did the false witnesses that rose up against him, and the Jews who charged him with sedition and blasphemy.

f על נפשי "contra vitam meam", Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord,... - The word rendered “reward” means usually work, labor, occupation, business; then, what one earns by his work - reward, recompence, Leviticus 19:13. The meaning here is, Let them constantly receive these things which I have prayed for Psalms 109:6-19; let them be constantly treated in this manner. This is a summing up of his entire wish - his whole desire. It cannot be proved that they did “not deserve” all this; it cannot be shown that if all this came upon them at the hand of God, it would be unjust; it cannot be denied that such things as these, either singly, in groups, or in succession, do actually come upon wicked people; and the prayer in the case “may” have been merely that justice might be done. Still, as before remarked, it is not easy wholly to vindicate the expressed feelings of the psalmist. See the notes at Psalms 109:10.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 109:20. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul. — Following the mode of interpretation already adopted, this may mean: All these maledictions shall be fulfilled on my enemies; they shall have them for their reward. So all the opposition made by the Jews against our Lord, and the obloquies and execrations wherewith they have loaded him and his religion, have fallen upon themselves; and they are awful examples of the wrath of God abiding on them that believe not.

But is not this verse a key to all that preceded it? The original, fairly interpreted, will lead us to a somewhat different meaning: זאת פעלת שטני מאת יהוה והדברים רע על נפשי zoth peullath soteney meeth Yehovah, vehaddoberim ra al naphshi. "This is the work of my adversaries before the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my soul," or life. That is, all that is said from the sixth to the twentieth verse consists of the evil words and imprecations of my enemies against my soul, laboring to set the Lord, by imprecations, against me, that their curses may take effect. This, which is a reasonable interpretation, frees the whole Psalm from every difficulty. Surely, the curses contained in it are more like those which proceed from the mouth of the wicked, than from one inspired by the Spirit of the living God. Taking the words in this sense, which I am persuaded is the best, and which the original will well bear and several of the Versions countenance, then our translation may stand just as it is, only let the reader remember that at the sixth verse David begins to tell how his enemies cursed HIM, while he prayed for THEM.