Read the passage and its setting
Psalms 109:1–5, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 109:1–5
Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse: False accusation and betrayed love
The Main Point
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
What Is Happening Here?
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied. The unit's form is lament-imprecation, and its voice is individual.
What Came Before—and What Comes Next?
Psalms 108:1–13 has just completed “A fixed heart joins praise and national plea.”
Psalms 109:6–20 next carries “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse: The extended curse and its disputed voice.”
Follow the Psalm's Poetic Movement
See why this section appears here and how the author's poetic movement leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
Book V places this unit within its movement from thanksgiving, torah, pilgrimage, davidic prayer, and universal praise bring the psalter from gathered distress toward a many-voiced hallelujah. Psalms 108:1–13 has just completed “A fixed heart joins praise and national plea.” Psalms 109:6–20 next carries “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse: The extended curse and its disputed voice.”
Follow the Voice, Image, and Parallel Lines
Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 109:1–5; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
What Is the Author Saying?
Why This Interpretation Fits
Voice, image, and parallel movement
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied. The opening clause “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise” belongs to this complete movement.
Placement in Book V
Book V places this unit within its movement from thanksgiving, torah, pilgrimage, davidic prayer, and universal praise bring the psalter from gathered distress toward a many-voiced hallelujah. Psalms 108:1–13 has just completed “A fixed heart joins praise and national plea.” Psalms 109:6–20 next carries “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse: The extended curse and its disputed voice.”
Uncertainty and responsible limit
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
Words That Matter
“Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise”
·
This is the exact opening KJV clause of Psalms 109:1–5; read it as one line inside the individual poetic movement rather than as an isolated slogan.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Psalms 109:1–5 with its poetic voice, whole psalm, and collection rules out this misuse:
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
Context check: Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
What Remains True Today
Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
Psalms 109:1–5 performs this poetic work: Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey.
What response preserves the text's voice and the neighbor's safety?
Keep the movement “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse: False accusation and betrayed love” in view. Let the line “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise” make room for protest without dehumanizing anyone; choose safety, truthful evidence, and justice over revenge. The textual reason is this verse's role: The opening line begins the movement “False accusation and betrayed love.”
A Concrete Example
Before applying “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise,” name the speaker, summarize Psalms 109:1–5, state the enduring truth, and refuse this overreach: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
Teach It Back
Explain Psalms 109:1–5 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 109 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go Deeper
The main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Voice, image, and parallel movement
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied. The opening clause “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise” belongs to this complete movement.
Placement in Book V
Book V places this unit within its movement from thanksgiving, torah, pilgrimage, davidic prayer, and universal praise bring the psalter from gathered distress toward a many-voiced hallelujah. Psalms 108:1–13 has just completed “A fixed heart joins praise and national plea.” Psalms 109:6–20 next carries “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse: The extended curse and its disputed voice.”
Uncertainty and responsible limit
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
“Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise”
This exact KJV clause anchors Psalms 109:1–5. MorphHB and the NET notes were checked at the verse so poetic parallelism and older English stay inside the unit rather than receiving an unsupported dictionary gloss.
How certain? very strongWhat the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Recoverable setting and limits
Psalms 109:1–5 belongs to Israel's received Psalter and Book V. Its lament-imprecation form may preserve individual, communal, royal, sanctuary, wisdom, historical, or later liturgical voices. A heading or vivid scene can guide reception without proving one author, date, event, performance setting, or editorial stage.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording in Psalm 109
The pinned KJV remains displayed exactly. MorphHB, exact NET notes, and NETS Ps 109 expose difficult Hebrew, poetic syntax, ancient Greek numbering or division, headings, and material alternatives without silently rewriting the base text.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
The psalm within Jewish Scripture and worship
Psalms 109:1–5 belongs first to the Jewish Psalter's Hebrew poetry, five-book arrangement, prayer, instruction, memory, and worship. Jewish use and interpretation are not a preliminary stage to be erased by later Christian reception.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Canonical relationships after the first horizon
enemies, speech, violence, poor connect this movement with other psalms and wider biblical traditions only after Psalms 109:1–5's own voice and poetic work are established. Similar wording does not make every speaker, enemy, city, nation, king, or promise identical.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Material textual, heading, or numbering issue
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
Psalms 109:1–5 gives individual prayer and poetry a real place before the LORD while the five-book Psalter holds lament, praise, Torah, kingship, Zion, creation, history, and communal memory in conversation.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey.
How certain? probableCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The curse section has disputed speaker proposals and severe consequences; it must not be prayed as a weapon against named people or used to sanctify abuse.
A vivid line from Psalm 109 can be detached from poetic parallelism, voice, genre, the whole psalm, Book V, and later reception history.
Within Psalms 109:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “False accusation and betrayed love” as part of “Betrayal, accusation, and extended curse.” Its lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey.
False accusation and betrayed love remains meaningful without the rejected overreach.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 109:1–5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 109:1–5
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 109:1–5.
Official NET Bible Psalm 109 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 109:1–5
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 109:1–5
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 109 for Psalms 109:1–5
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 109:1–5
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 109:1–5
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 109:1–5
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 109:1–5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 109:1–5
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 109:1–5.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 109 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 109:1–5
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 109:1–5
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 109 for Psalms 109:1–5
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access research overview
An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms: Reformed and Evangelical Approaches to the Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms
Daniel Simango and P. Paul Krüger
Old Testament Essays 29.3, 2016
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Exact location: Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 109:1–5
Open the imprecatory-psalm overview ↗peer reviewed open access literary and ethical study
Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words in the 21st century
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford
Acta Theologica Supplementum 32, 2021
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
Exact location: deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 109:1–5
Open deClaissé-Walford on imprecation ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 109:1–5
Open the WHO communication guide ↗