Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 109:17-18

"Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him; And he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him. He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment, And it came into his inward parts like water, And like oil into his bones." — Psalms 109:17-18 (ASV)

Let. — The optatives in English are incorrect. These verses express facts, and the imprecation follows in Psalm 109:19. Render as follows:

He loved cursing; and it comes;
He delighted not in blessing; and it departs;
Indeed, he clothed himself in cursing as with his cloak,
And it came like water into his bowels,
And like oil into his bones;
May it be, etc.

Compare the proverb, “Curses, like chickens, always come home to roost.”

The fabled shirt of Nessus, which ate into the mighty form of Hercules, has suggested itself to commentators as an illustration of this image. In a good sense, the same figure is a favorite one with the Hebrews .

Psalms 109:19 has struck most commentators as an anticlimax, and the quotation theory is supported by this fact. But imprecations show their impotence in this way: the angry soul can never be quite “unpacked with curses”; the language of passion exhausts itself too soon, and a violent speech often dies away in unintelligible mutterings or even gestures of rage.