Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.
Parallel translations
- KJV Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
- BSB May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.
- ESV May it be like a garment that he wraps around him, like a belt that he puts on every day!
- NKJV Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
- NASB May it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, And as a belt which he constantly wears around himself.
- NLT Now may his curses return and cling to him like clothing; may they be tied around him like a belt.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David asks that the curses the enemy loved cling to him permanently, like a garment or belt. The judgment matches the man's own habit of cursing.
Overview
Just as the wicked man clothed himself in cursing (v. 18), David prays it become inseparable from him, an ever-present consequence. It is poetic justice: the sin he chose to wear becomes the judgment he cannot remove. By contrast, the believer's old garment of sin is stripped away in Christ (Zechariah 3:3-4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ps 109:29Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
- Ps 132:18I will clothe his enemies with shame, but on himself, his crown will be resplendent.”
- Ps 35:26Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me.
- Ps 109:18He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 109:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.