Mazmur 109:13-16

109:13 May his descendants ¹  be cut off! ² 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ³ 

109:14 May his ancestors’ ⁴  sins be remembered by the Lord!

May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! ⁵ 

109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, ⁶ 

and cut off the memory of his children ⁷  from the earth!

109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; ⁸ 

he harassed the oppressed and needy,

and killed the disheartened. ⁹ 

[109:13]  ¹ tn Or “offspring.”

[109:13]  ² sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

[109:13]  ³ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

[109:14]  ⁴ tn Or “fathers’ sins.”

[109:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “not be wiped out.”

[109:14]  sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)

[109:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”

[109:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.

[109:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”

[109:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”