Single lesson
Psalm 109: The Song of the Slandered
Psalms 109:1–31
Psalm 109 is a difficult prayer because the speaker has been slandered and answers God with strong words. In this lesson, students trace the speaker, the poem’s images, and the movement from accusation to request and praise.
Before you teach
The psalm begins by calling on the God of my praise not to remain silent. The speaker says wicked and deceitful people have lied, hated, opposed and repaid love with evil. Verses 6 to 20 use severe judgement language about an adversary. The psalm then turns to a plea for help, ending with thanks and confidence that Yahweh stands with the needy.
Students will identify the speaker’s problem, describe at least three images in Psalm 109, and explain how the psalm moves from complaint to request to praise.
Welcome: Hear the opening complaint
5 minWrite three words on a board: praise, attack, help. Read verses 1 to 5 aloud slowly. Ask students to listen for who is addressed and what the speaker says others have done. Briefly explain that this is a poem spoken to God during painful opposition, and that the class will observe its words carefully, including its difficult parts.
Psalms 109:1, Psalms 109:2, Psalms 109:3, Psalms 109:4, Psalms 109:5
Read and explain: Notice the poem’s three parts
10 minRead the psalm in three sections: verses 1 to 5, 6 to 20, and 21 to 31. Help students mark the shifts. First comes the report of lies and hatred. Next comes severe judgement language about an adversary. Last comes a direct appeal for help, descriptions of weakness, and an ending of praise and confidence.
Psalms 109:1, Psalms 109:5, Psalms 109:6, Psalms 109:20, Psalms 109:21, Psalms 109:31
Discuss: Explore the poem’s images
8 minAsk students to find vivid images and explain what each one shows. Examples include cursing as clothing, water and oil going inward, fading like an evening shadow, being shaken off like a locust, and shame as a robe. Also notice repeated ideas such as speech, prayer, kindness, cursing, blessing and the needy.
Psalms 109:18, Psalms 109:19, Psalms 109:23, Psalms 109:28, Psalms 109:29, Psalms 109:31
Make and respond: Illustrated prayer or image card
10 minStudents choose one verse or image from the psalm and create a simple card with the words on one side and a matching drawing or symbol on the other. Encourage choices from the psalm’s own images of grief, need, trust or praise. When finished, each student explains briefly how the image helps show the poem’s message.
Psalms 109:1, Psalms 109:22, Psalms 109:23, Psalms 109:28, Psalms 109:30, Psalms 109:31
Closing: Summarise the movement and handle the hard section carefully
7 minReview the movement together: slander and hostility, severe judgement language, a plea for deliverance because of loving kindness, and closing praise. Add a clear note that the class is observing how this psalm speaks to God and how the poem moves, not being told to repeat every curse against other people. End with the closing confidence in Yahweh’s help for the needy.
Psalms 109:2, Psalms 109:4, Psalms 109:20, Psalms 109:21, Psalms 109:26, Psalms 109:30, Psalms 109:31
Questions to explore
What words in the opening show why the speaker is upset?
Look for the terms about deceit, lying, hatred, opposition and evil returned for love, then answer using the psalm’s own wording.
Psalms 109:2, Psalms 109:3, Psalms 109:4, Psalms 109:5
How does the psalm’s language change after verse 20?
Compare the severe statements about the adversary with the direct requests for deliverance, the description of weakness, and the ending of praise.
Psalms 109:20, Psalms 109:21, Psalms 109:22, Psalms 109:26, Psalms 109:30
Which image best shows the speaker’s condition, and why?
Choose from the evening shadow, the locust, weak knees, thin body, or shaking heads, and explain your choice from the verse.
Psalms 109:23, Psalms 109:24, Psalms 109:25
Make, think or respond
Psalm 109 Image Card
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils
- coloured markers or crayons
- Bible text
Try it together
- Ask each student to choose one verse from Psalm 109 that contains a strong image or clear prayer.
- Fold the paper in half. On the front, write the verse reference and a key word from the verse.
- Inside, draw a simple image that matches the wording, such as a robe, water, oil, evening shadow, locust, weak knees, a thin body, shaking heads, a praising mouth, or the right hand of the needy.
- On the back, write one sentence explaining what the image shows about the speaker’s grief, need, trust or praise.
- Invite students to share their card with a partner or small group.
This activity helps students pay close attention to the poem’s images and see how Psalm 109 expresses pain, appeal to Yahweh and confidence in his help.
Adapt for your group
- For younger or less confident readers, read only verses 1 to 5 and 21 to 31 aloud twice, then let them choose one image from those sections rather than from the whole psalm.
- For stronger readers, ask them to sort verses into four headings: accusation, judgement language, request and praise, and defend their choices from the text.
An optional closing prayer
"Yahweh, when words hurt and confuse us, help us bring our need to you honestly. Teach us to notice your care for the needy and to give you thanks. Amen."
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Psalms 109
1 God of my praise, don’t remain silent,
2 for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.
5 They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him come out guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin.
8 Let his days be few. Let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
12 Let there be no one to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;
16 because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.
17 Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him.
18 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.
20 This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, of those who speak evil against my soul.
21 But deal with me, Yahweh the Lord, for your name’s sake, because your loving kindness is good, deliver me;
22 for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.
25 I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
26 Help me, Yahweh, my God. Save me according to your loving kindness;
27 that they may know that this is your hand; that you, Yahweh, have done it.
28 They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
30 I will give great thanks to Yahweh with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.