Psalms 109 · Verse 11

Psalms 109:11

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
Psalms 109:11, King James Version

Psalms 109:11 in other translations

BSBMay the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
WEBLet the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
ASVLet the extortioner catch all that he hath; And let strangers make spoil of his labor.
YLTAn exactor layeth a snare for all that he hath, And strangers spoil his labour.
DARBYLet the usurer cast the net over all that he hath, and let strangers despoil his labour;
BBELet his creditor take all his goods; and let others have the profit of his work.
WebsterLet the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let strangers spoil his labor.

What does Psalms 109:11 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 11 Let the strangers spoil his labor - Many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews, after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country, after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returning; and so taxed by the Roman government, that they were reduced to the lowest degree of poverty. Domitian expelled them from Rome; and they were obliged to take up their habitation without the gate Capena, in a wood contiguous to the city, for which they were obliged to pay a rent, and where the whole of their property was only a basket and a little hay. See Juvenal, Sat. ver. 11: - Substitit ad veteres arcus, madidamque Capenam: Hic ubi nocturne Numa constituebat amicae, Nunc sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantur Judaes: quorum cophinus, foenumque supellex: Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est Arbor, et ejectis mendicat silva Camoenis. He stopped a little at the conduit gate, Where Numa modelled once the Roman state; In nightly councils with his nymph retired: Though now the sacred shades and founts are hired By banished Jews, who their whole wealth can lay In a small basket, on a wisp of hay. Yet such our avarice is, that every tree Pays for his head; nor sleep itself is free; Nor place nor persons now are sacred held, From their own grove the Muses are expelled. Dryden. The same poet refers again to this wretched state of the Jews, Sat. vi., ver. 541; and shows to what vile extremities they were reduced in order to get a morsel of bread: - Cum dedit ille locum, cophino foenoque relicto, Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem, Interpres legum Solymarum, et magna sacerdos Arboris, ac summi fida internuncia coeli. Implet et illa manum, sed parcius, aere minuto. Qualia cunque voles Judaei somnia vendunt. Here a Jewess is represented as coming from the wood mentioned above, to gain a few oboli by fortune-telling; and, trembling lest she should be discovered, she leaves her basket and hay, and whispers lowly in the ear of some female, from whom she hopes employment in her line. She is here called by the poet the interpretess of the laws of Solymae, or Jerusalem, and the priestess of a tree, because obliged, with the rest of her nation, to lodge in a wood; so that she and her countrymen might be said to seek their bread out of desolate places, the stranger having spoiled their labor. Perhaps the whole of the Psalm relates to their infidelities, rebellions, and the miseries inflicted on them from the crucifixion of our Lord till the present time. I should prefer this sense, if what is said on Psa 109:20 be not considered a better mode of interpretation.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 109:6-20

The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that…

Read the full comment on Psalms 109:6-20 →

Psalms 109:11 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

יְנַקֵּ֣שׁye.na.Keshmay he strikeH5367
נ֭וֹשֶׁהNo.o.sheha creditorH5383
לְכָל\־le.kholto allH3605
אֲשֶׁר\־'a.Sher-thatH834
ל֑וֹlo[belongs] to him
וְיָבֹ֖זּוּve.ya.Vo.zuand may they plunderH962
זָרִ֣יםza.RimstrangersH2114
יְגִיעֽוֹ\׃ye.gi.'Oproperty hisH3018

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 109:11

  • Job 5:5

    Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

  • Deuteronomy 28:33-34

    The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

  • Deuteronomy 28:50-51

    A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

  • Deuteronomy 28:29

    And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

  • Job 18:9-19

    The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. …

  • Job 20:18

    That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

  • Judges 6:3-6

    And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
extortioner.
Job 5:5; 18:9-19; 20:18
strangers.
De 28:29,33,34,50,51; Jud 6:3-6

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 109:10

    Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

  • Psalms 109:11

    Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

  • Psalms 109:12

    Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

Read all of Psalms 109

Psalms 109:11 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Enrede el acreedor todo lo que tiene, y extraños saqueen su trabajo.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Que l’usurier jette le filet sur tout ce qui est à lui, et que les étrangers pillent le fruit de son travail;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Der Wucherer umgarne alles, was er hat, und Fremde mögen rauben seine Arbeit!