psalm 109 overlapping structures

Read Psalm 109 at Bible Gateway.

This psalm has an interesting overlapping structure I have not seen before (Hebrew paragraph divisions marked within the structure):

introduction) Psa 109:1, O God of my praise, Do not keep silent;

1a) Psa 109:2, For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue;

1b) Psa 109:3-5, The psalmist’s attackers attack him with accusations:

1a.1) Psa 109:3, They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause;
1a.2) Psa 109:4a, In return for my love they are my accusers;
central axis) Psa 109:4b, But I give myself to prayer;
2a.1) Psa 109:5a, Thus they have rewarded me evil for good;
2a.b) Psa 109:5b, And hatred for my love.

1c) Psa 109:6-15, Let his own works come upon him:

6 Set a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand;
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty, And let his prayer become sin;
8 Let his days be few, And let another take his office;
9 Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow;
10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places;
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labor;
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children;
13 Let his posterity be cut off, And in the generation following let their name be blotted out;
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out;
15 Let them be continually before the Lord, That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

2c) Psa 109:16-19, Because they are the works he did to the vulnerable, without mercy:

16a Because he did not remember to show mercy; {n}
16b But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart;
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him;
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones;
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.

2b) Psa 109:20a, Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers;

2a) Psa 109:20b, And to those who speak evil against my person.

1a) Psa 109:16-20, Mercy not shown to the needy, therefore may his own cursing cover him:

1) Psa 109:16a, Because he did not remember to show mercy; {n}

2) Psa 109:16b, But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart;

3) Psa 109:17-20, Let his curses cover him like a garment:

17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him;
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones;
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually;
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person.

central axis) Psa 109:21a, But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name’s sake; {n}

2a) Psa 109:21b-29, Deliver the needy by Your mercy, and may shame cover the accusers:

1) Psa 109:21b, Because Your mercy is good, deliver me;

2) Psa 109:22-25, The plight of the poor, needy, and broken- hearted:

22 For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me;
23 I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust;
24 My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness;
25 I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads;

1) Psa 109:26-27, Appeal to the Lord’s mercy repeated:

26 Help me, O Lord my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy;
27 That they may know that this is Your hand— That You, Lord, have done it!

3) Psa 109:28-29, Let the accusers be covered with shame as a garment:

28 Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice;
29 Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

conclusion) Psa 109:30-31, Praise to God who does not keep silent:

30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, To save him from those who condemn him. {p}