What Does Psalm 109:20 Mean?
This is the work of those who stand against me from the LORD, and of those who speak evil against my living soul.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names the psalmist’s adversaries and, elsewhere, the Adversary, revealing evil speech as active opposition against the living self.
THE MEANING
Your living self is not erased by hostile speech: this verse names its speakers as opponents and brings their words before the LORD. Its plea remains severe, asking the LORD to give recompense to those who oppose and speak evil.
THE ROOT
שֹׂטְנַי
sotnay
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
to oppose, act as an adversary
“those who stand against me” in this verse is sotnay. The root names active opposition: the psalm’s attackers stand against the speaker. The same root appears in Job’s “Satan” (“the Adversary”), sharpening the force of words spoken against a living self.
ALSO GROWS
satan: an adversary; with the article, “the Adversary”
שָׂטָן
This is the singular form of the root behind “my adversaries,” showing the shared name for one who opposes.
sitnah: opposition or accusation
שִׂטְנָה
This branch connects adversarial opposition with hostile accusation, echoing the speech directed against the psalmist.
פְּעֻלַּת
pe’ullat
GROWS FROM
פעל
to do, work, carry out
The Hebrew word for “reward” belongs to the root for doing or working, and can carry the sense of work and its recompense. The plea names the adversaries’ outcome as what their actions earn from the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
po’el: one who does or works; a worker
פֹּעֵל
This branch makes the root’s link to action visible beside the word for recompense.
pe’ullah: work, product, wages, or recompense
פְּעֻלָּה
This word holds the work itself and its due return within the same family.
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נפש
living being, self, person, life
“living soul” in this verse is nafshi. Here “my soul” is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), the living self. Hebrew keeps together senses English often distributes among “life,” “person,” and “soul,” so the evil speech is aimed at the speaker as a whole living person.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: living soul, person, self, or life
נֶפֶשׁ
One Hebrew word carries senses that English often splits into several words.
nefashot: persons or living selves (plural)
נְפָשׁוֹת
The plural form shows that nefesh can name living persons, underscoring the personal force of speech against “my soul.”
THE PATTERN
Opposition and its harm are brought before God, while the adversary’s outcome is named as recompense.
A Psalm of David. Grapple, LORD, with those who grapple with me; fight against those who fight against me.Whoever digs a pit falls into it; whoever rolls a stone, it turns back upon him.Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give room to wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will give back, says the LORD.THE THREAD
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to take their stand before the LORD, and the Adversary came also among them.Psalm 109:20 uses שֹׂטְנַי (sotnay, “my adversaries”), from שׂטן (satan, “oppose; be an adversary”); Job 1:6 uses the same root in הַשָּׂטָן (ha-satan, “the Adversary”). The shared root lets the psalm’s human opponents and Job’s adversarial figure speak through one name for the act of standing against.
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