Psalm 109:17

Psalm 109:17, in plain English

The accuser loved curses and rejected blessings—so now may the curse he loved come on him and may blessing stay far from him.

Why it's here

This is poetic justice. The accuser made cursing his lifestyle choice, rejected the good things God offers, and now the psalmist asks that God honor his choice—give him exactly what he's chosen: curses, never blessings. There's a kind of clarity in this: you choose curses, you get curses.

Who's speaking

David, describing the symmetry of judgment

Where it sits in the story

Proverbs and Deuteronomy both present this dynamic: blessing follows obedience and right choices, curse follows disobedience and wrong choices. The psalmist is asking that God simply let the accuser experience the natural consequences of his choice to curse rather than bless.

The scholarly reading

May the curses and maledictions that the accuser loved and invoked fall back upon him, while the blessings he rejected remain distant from him.

Language and setting

The verb 'ahav' (loved) regarding curses is striking—the accuser didn't merely speak curses casually but actively chose them as his preferred mode of discourse, suggesting a settled disposition toward malevolence. The contrast with 'lo chafetz' (did not delight in) blessings creates a binary: the accuser willfully elected the cursing trajectory over the blessing one. This echoes the choice presented in Deuteronomy 30:15 ('See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil') and Joshua 24:15. By choosing curses, the accuser has authored his own judgment; the psalmist merely invokes what he has already chosen.

Voice

The psalmist, establishing that the accuser's own preferences seal his fate.

Significance

The principle of chosen consequences runs throughout Scripture: one reaps what one sows (Galatians 6:7), and the wicked are ensnared by their own devices (Psalm 7:15-16). This reflects a sophisticated understanding of judgment not as arbitrary divine punishment but as the natural—or supernaturally accelerated—consequence of one's trajectory.

15May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.

16For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death.

17The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

18The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.

19May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.

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.