The Prayer of the Wrongly Accused
May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children. Psalm 109:12 · Berean Standard Bible
May no one show him compassion, and may everyone refuse to help his orphaned children.
This is about complete social isolation. In ancient society, community support and family networks were survival mechanisms. The psalmist is praying that the accuser will be cut off from mercy—no one to advocate for him, no one to help his vulnerable children.
David, praying for social abandonment of the accuser
Throughout Scripture, God's people are called to show mercy and defend the helpless. Here the psalmist asks that mercy be withdrawn from someone he sees as ruthless. It's not arbitrary—it's asking God to let the accuser experience what he's shown to others.
May no one show the accuser kindness, and may his orphaned children receive no mercy or support.
The clause 'lo yehi lo oseh hesed' (let there be none doing kindness to him) invokes the dissolution of social covenant—the breaking of the reciprocal bonds that hold community together. The specific mention of protecting the orphaned children ('yetomav') reverses the command throughout Torah and Prophets to show special care for the vulnerable (Deuteronomy 14:29, Isaiah 1:17). By having shown no 'hesed' (covenantal kindness) to others, the accuser forfeits the community's obligation to show it to him.
The psalmist, invoking social isolation as part of the curse.
The principle that the merciful receive mercy (Matthew 5:7) operates inversely here: the unmerciful forfeit mercy. This becomes central to Jesus's teaching on judgment (Matthew 25:31-46), where the criterion is precisely one's treatment of the vulnerable.
10May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
11May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children.
13May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
14May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
Read all of Psalm 109 — David's most severe imprecatory psalm. The curses are shocking — but they come from a man who has handed vengeance to God instead of taking it himself.
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