1-5 God of my praise, do not be silent. For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me;
they speak against me with lying tongues. They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I continue to pray. They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

6-7 Set a wicked person over him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer be counted as sin. 8 Let his days be few; let another take over his position. 9-14 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children wander as beggars, searching for food far from their demolished homes. Let a creditor seize all he has; let strangers plunder what he has worked for. Let no one show him kindness, and let no one be gracious to his fatherless children. Let the line of his descendants be cut off; let their name be blotted out in the next generation. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and do not let his mother’s sin be blotted out. 15 Let their sins always remain before the Lord, and let him remove all memory of them from the earth.

16-20 For he did not think to show kindness, but pursued the suffering, needy, and broken-hearted in order to put them to death. He loved cursing - let it fall on him; he took no delight in blessing - let it be far from him. He wore cursing like his coat - let it enter his body like water and go into his bones like oil. Let it be like a robe he wraps around himself, like a belt he always wears. Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me. Psalm 109:1-20 Christian Standard Bible

Did you feel uncomfortable as you read the verses above? You’re not alone. From vs 6 onward they paint a picture of a man who is asking God for some terrible things. The words are so so strong that some Bible versions have changed it to put the words into the mouth of those who were attacking David. But we must never twist what the Bible says to make it say what we think it should say. What then are we to make of David's startling prayer?

We need to remember that David lived long before Jesus came into the world and brought His deeper dimension to the good laws God had given in the Old Testament. One of those laws was 'an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth' when it came to punishment for harm caused by wrongdoing. But Jesus said: “You've heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say, don't resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also - love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:38-44) This is a big reason why we who have a fuller picture of God's grace find the Psalm uncomfortable.

The other thing we should note is that David was only asking for things that his attacker was personally guilty of. That comes across strongly in vs 16-20. (It’s worth looking at those verses again.) David was asking, as one who lived in Old Testament days, that God would deal with wicked people in the way they had dealt with him and with others too. In other words, vs 6-15 were likely true too of the sort of pain those people had continually inflicted on others. They were callous, cruel and totally unrepentant and David was praying that they might reap what they had sown. But there's perhaps another sad truth that comes out of this Psalm. Can you remember where the words of vs 8 are mentioned in the New Testament?

In Acts 1:18 we read of the terrible end of Judas, the man who had so betrayed Jesus. And in vs 20 the apostle Peter quotes this Psalm and says: “Let someone else take his position.” David's main complaint was that the people were doing him such harm despite the fact that he had shown them love, and prayed for them. He says “They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” Jesus had shown Judas nothing but love. Yet Judas repaid it with betrayal. Yes, this is a startling prayer – but it does show what the end of the ungodly will be. That's why the life and love of Jesus, and His message of God's forgiveness for those who turn from wickedness, is such wonderful news. If the wicked repent and turn to Christ their sins  won't ‘remain before the Lord’, as vs 15 warned. God's mercy is even more startling than this prayer.