Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 109:7
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
7. When he is Judged, he shall come out guilty] Lit. wicked: he will be shewn to be what he is and condemned accordingly. Cp. Psa 37:33.
and his prayer shall be held as a sin] This cannot mean that his plea to the judge or to his accuser (Mat 18:26) will be regarded as an aggravation of his offence, for the word for prayer is never used of requests made to men; but that when he cries to God for help, his prayer will only be regarded as a sin and find no hearing. Terrible as this statement is, it is only in accord with the teaching of many other passages. See Psa 66:18 ff.; Pro 1:28 ff; Pro 15:8; Pro 21:27; Pro 28:9; Isa 1:15. A prayer, wrung from the wicked man in his extremity, and prompted by no true penitence, would only be an appeal to God to take the part of the wicked, to the confusion of the moral order of the world. The Versions and commentators generally ignore the fact that the verb in the second line is not in the optative (jussive) form let it be held, but a simple future (imperfect), it shall be held: and presumably the verb in the first line is also to be translated as a future not an optative, though in this case no distinctive form exists.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When he shall be judged … – When for his offences he shall be arraigned. The psalmist supposes that he might be put on trial; he seems to suppose that this would be. Such wickedness could not always escape detection, and sooner or later he would be arrested and brought to trial. When this should occur, the psalmist prays that justice might be done; that he might be condemned, as he ought to be. Such a prayer could not in itself be wrong, for assuredly it cannot be proper for magistrates to pray that the wicked man may escape, or that they may themselves fail in the very object for which they are appointed. See the General Introduction, 6 (5) e. f.
And let his prayer become sin – Evidently his prayer in reference to his trial for crime; his prayer that he might be acquitted and discharged. Let it be seen in the result that such a prayer was wrong; that it was, in fact, a prayer for the discharge of a bad man – a man who ought to be punished. Let it be seen to be what a prayer would be if offered for a murderer, or violator of the law – a prayer that he might escape or not be punished. All must see that such a prayer would be wrong, or would be a sin; and so, in his own case, it would be equally true that a prayer for his own escape would be sin. The psalmist asks that, by the result of the trial, such a prayer might be seen to be in fact a prayer for the protection and escape of a bad man. A just sentence in the case would demonstrate this; and this is what the psalmist prays for.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Let him be condemned] yetse rasha. “Let him come out a wicked man;” that is let his wickedness be made manifest.
Let his prayer become sin.] Thus paraphrased by Calmet: “Let him be accused, convicted, and condemned, and let the defence which he brings for his justification only serve to deepen his guilt, and hasten his condemnation.” I once more apprise the reader, that if these are not the words of David’s enemies against himself, (see on Ps 109:20,) they are prophetic denunciations against a rebellious and apostate person or people, hardened in crime, and refusing to return to God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When he shall be judged; when he shall be called to an account, and his cause examined before thy tribunal.
Let his prayer become sin, i.e. be turned into sin, or be imputed to him as his sin, or be as unavailable with God for his relief as his sins. When he makes supplication to his Judge, as Job speaks, Job 9:15, for pity and pardon, let him be the more provoked and enraged by it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. The condemnation isaggravated when prayer for relief is treated as a sin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned,…. When he shall be arraigned at the bar of his own conscience, and be charged with the sin of which he is guilty, let conscience, which is as a thousand witnesses, rise up against him, and condemn him; so it did Judas, Mt 26:1, or when he shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ at the last day,
let him go out a wicked, or a guilty or condemned man z; let him hear the awful sentence, “go, thou cursed, into everlasting fire”: and let him go out immediately from the presence of the Judge into eternal punishment, the condemnation of the devil: so Judas is said to go to his own place, Ac 1:25.
And let his prayer become sin, let it be fruitless and in vain; and so far from being heard, let it he treated as an abomination; let it be considered as an aggravation of his crime, as Haman’s was, Est 7:7, let his prayer being without faith in the blood of Christ, be reckoned sinful, as it was; let his cries, and tears, and repentance issue in desperation, and that in sin, as it did in destroying himself,
Mt 27:5.
z “exeat impius”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, De Dieu, Gejerus; “damnatus”, Junius Tremellius “condemnatus”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 When he is judged, let him depart guilty Another imprecation is, that, being summoned to judgment, he might be punished without mercy, and that, though he humbly crave forgiveness, the judge should remain inexorable. This might with propriety be understood to relate not merely to his being judged at the bar of men, but also at the tribunal of God. But as it accords very well with the decisions awarded by an earthly judge, and as this is the commonly received interpretation, I have no wish to depart from it. There are two things which must be noticed here; that the wickedness of the wicked may be so palpable as to leave no room to escape from the execution of justice, and that all their entreaties for pardon may be disregarded. Accordingly, the Psalmist represents him as a condemned criminal leaving the presence of the judge, bearing the ignominy of the condemnation which he righteously merited, having his nefarious deeds disclosed and detected. With respect to the other interpretation which places the ungodly before God’s judgment-seat, it by no means appears absurd to say that their prayers should be turned against them to sin, the more especially as we know that all their sacrifices are an abomination unto him. And by how much they themselves are filthy, by so much do all their plausible virtues become offensive and displeasing to God. But as the scope of the passage is in favor of that interpretation which applies it to earthly judges, I do not consider it necessary to insist farther upon this point.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) When he shall be judged.Literally, in his being judged. (See margin.) The meaning is, may he go out of court a condemned man.
Let his prayer become sin.If this clause stood by itself, the most natural way would be to give prayer and sin their usual sense, and see in it the horrible hope that the mans prayer to God for mercy would be reckoned as sin. That such was the result of the performance of religious rites by a wicked man was, it is true, a thought familiar to the Hebrew. (See, in addition to the marginal reference, Pro. 15:8; Pro. 21:27.) But the judgment just spoken of is that of an earthly tribunal. Hence we must render here, let his prayer be an offence, that is, instead of procuring him a mitigation of his sentence, let it rather provoke the unscrupulous judge to make it heavier. For sin in this sense of offence, see Ecc. 10:4, and comp. 1Ki. 1:21.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. When he shall be judged The narrative shows that it is of human courts, not the divine tribunal, that David speaks.
Let him be condemned Literally, He shall go out [from court] guilty.
Let his prayer become sin His prayer shall become sin; that is, when he shall plead innocence, and pray against judgment due to guilt, it shall be counted as adding sin to sin. See Pro 28:9; Isa 1:15; Psa 66:18
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
As the authority we have for applying all that is here said in a way of denunciation, to the person of Judas, is derived particularly from the apostle Peter’s quoting this passage in direct reference to him, I beg the Reader to turn to it, Act 1 and read the Apostle’s whole address by way of confirmation to the point, from Act 1:15 to the end. It wilt at once illustrate the whole doctrine.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 109:7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Ver. 7. When he shall be judged ] Let him be cast in all his suits, causa excidat.
And let his prayer become sin
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sin. Hebrew. chata. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
be condemned: Heb. go out guilty, or wicked, Rom 3:19, Gal 3:10
and let: 2Sa 15:7, 2Sa 15:8, Pro 15:8, Pro 21:27, Pro 28:9, Isa 1:15, Isa 66:3, Mat 23:14
Reciprocal: Job 27:9 – Will God Mal 2:2 – and I Act 1:25 – from
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
109:7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his {d} prayer become sin.
(d) As to the elect all things turn to their profit, so to the reprobate, even those things that are good, turn to their damnation.