Praise and Deliverance in Psalm 109:29-31

Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.

For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.

My Thoughts

Psalm 109:29-31 expresses a plea for shame to envelop the accusers while emphasizing the need for public praise of God for His deliverance. It reassures that God stands with the poor and oppressed, ready to rescue them from condemnation. The verses highlight faith’s triumph over adversity and the necessity of vocal gratitude.

The lyrics to the song below are from a song of praise to our Abba Father, as I’m facing a situation in my personal life right now, I lift up this to my Abba because He is greater than any situation I face and I know that He has me in His hands and I want to praise HIM…….Bill

How Great Thou Art

Oh Lord, my God

When I, in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died to take away my sin

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart

Then I shall bow, in humble adoration

And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

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Commentaries:

Charles Spurgeon

“Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame.” It is a prophecy as well as a wish, and may be read both in the indicative and the imperative. Where sin is the underclothing, shame will soon be the outer vesture. He who would clothe good men with contempt shall himself be clothed with dishonor.

“And let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.” Let their confusion be broad enough to wrap them all over from head to foot, let them bind it about them and hide themselves in it, as being utterly afraid to be seen. Now they walk abroad unblushingly and reveal their own wickedness, acting as if they either had nothing to conceal or did not care whether it was seen or no; but they will be of another mind when the great Judge deals with them, then will they entreat mountains to hide them and hills to fall upon them, that they may not be seen: but all in vain, they must be dragged to the bar with no other covering but their own confusion.

“I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth.” Enthusiastically, abundantly, and loudly will he extol the righteous Lord, who redeemed him from all evil; and that not only in his own chamber or among his own family but in the most public manner.

“Yea, I will praise him among the multitude.” Remarkable and public providence demand public recognition, for otherwise men of the world will judge us to be ungrateful. We do not praise God to be heard of men, but as a natural sense of justice leads everyone to expect to hear a befriended person speak well of his benefactor, we, therefore, have regard to such natural and just expectations, and endeavor to make our praises as public as the benefit we have received. The singer in the present case is the man whose heart was wounded within him because he was the laughing stock of remorseless enemies; yet now he praises, praises greatly, praises aloud, praises in the teeth of all gainsayers, and praises with a right joyous spirit. Never let us despair, yea, never let us cease to praise.

“For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor.” God will not be absent when his people are on their trial; he will hold a brief for them and stand in court as their advocate, prepared to plead on their behalf. How different is this from the doom of the ungodly who has Satan at his right hand (Psa 109:6).

“To save him from those that condemn his soul.” The court only met as a matter of form, the malicious had made up their minds to the verdict, they judged him guilty, for their hate condemned him, yea, they pronounced sentence of damnation upon the very soul of their victim: but what mattered it? The great King was in court, and their sentence was turned against themselves. Nothing can more sweetly sustain the heart of a slandered believer than the firm conviction that God is near to all who are wronged and is sure to work out their salvation.

O Lord, save us from the severe trial of slander: deal in thy righteousness with all those who spitefully assail the characters of holy men, and cause all who are smarting under calumny and reproach to come forth unsullied from the affliction, even as did thine only begotten Son. Amen.

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Enduring Word

I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth: David’s heart was to see God honored in this deliverance. He would praise God vocally and publicly (among the multitude). (Guzik)

i. “The psalm began with addressing ‘the God of my praise’; it ends with the confidence and the vow that the singer will yet praise Him. It painted an adversary standing at the right hand of the wicked to condemn him; it ends with the assurance that Jehovah stands at the right hand of His afflicted servant, as his advocate to protect him.” (Maclaren)

He shall stand at the right hand of the poor: God is to be praised for His love and care for the poor and for those oppressed by such hateful enemies who condemn the righteous. (Guzik)

i. The One who shall stand is “…replacing the figure of the accuser, who stands at the right hand of his victim, by the figure of God who stands at the right hand of the needy in a very different sense. It is the complete answer.” (Kidner)

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Barnes

Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame – Let confusion and disappointment seem to cover them, so as to constitute a garment. See the notes at Psalms 109:18-19. They had “clothed themselves with cursing” Psalms 109:18, and the prayer now is, that the covering of shame might be as complete and entire.

And let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle – As with an outer garment – the mantle or robe – which they might wrap all round them. Let it be so abundant that they may entirely wrap their person in it. Let their confusion correspond with their sin in the fullest manner.

For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor – He will thus show that he befriends the poor and the helpless.

To save him from those that condemn his soul – – Margin, “from the judges of his soul.” The Hebrew is, “from those that judge his soul.” The meaning is, from those that pronounce a harsh or unjust judgment; from those that condemn the innocent.

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John Gill

I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth,…. Vocally, and in the highest strains.

Yea, I will praise him among the multitude: of converted persons, both Jews and Gentiles, and by them: or, “among the mighty”; or great ones; the great congregation, as in Psalm 22:25 among the innumerable and mighty angels in heaven; or, as the Targum, “among the wise men;” his own disciples, made wise unto salvation, and to win souls; being filled with the gifts of wisdom and knowledge; among and with whom Christ sung an hymn of praise after the celebration of the supper, Matthew 26:30.

For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor,…. Of the Messiah, as in Psalm 109:22 at whose right hand the Lord was, to guide and direct, help and assist, protect and defend, Psalm 16:8, or of his people, who are poor in every sense; but the Lord is on their side, and is a present help in time of trouble, Psalm 46:1.

To save him from those that condemn his soul: the Messiah: from his judges, the high priest and Jewish sanhedrim, and Pilate the Roman governor, who condemned him to death; but he committed his spirit, or soul, to God, who received it, and raised his body from the dead; and would not suffer it to see corruption, as a testimony of his innocence: or the soul of the poor saints, which the Lord saves from the condemnation of sin, Satan, the law, and their own consciences, Romans 8:1.

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Matthew Henry

He prays that his enemies might be ashamed (v. 28), clothed with shame (v. 29), that they might cover themselves with their own confusion, that they might be left to themselves, to do that which would expose them and manifest their folly before all men, or rather that they might be disappointed in their designs and enterprises against David, and thereby might be filled with shame, as the adversaries of the Jews were, Neh. 6:16. Nay, in this he prays that they might be brought to repentance, which is the chief thing we should beg of God for our enemies. Sinners indeed bring shame upon themselves, but they are true penitents that take shame to themselves and cover themselves with their own confusion.

Lastly, He concludes the psalm with joy, the joy of faith, joy in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs.

1. He promises God that he will praise him (v. 30): “I will greatly praise the Lord, not only with my heart, but with my mouth; I will praise him, not in secret only, but among the multitude.”

2. He promises himself that he shall have cause to praise God (v. 31): He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, night to him, a present help; he shall stand at his right hand as his patron and advocate to plead his cause against his accusers and to bring him off, to save him from those that condemn his soul and would execute their sentence if they could. God was David’s protector in his sufferings, and was present also with the Lord Jesus in his, stood at his right hand, so that he was not moved (Ps. 16:8), saved his soul from those that pretended to be the judges of it, and received it into his own hands. Let all those that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him.

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Clarke

He shall stand at the right hand of the poor — Even if Satan himself be the accuser, God will vindicate the innocence of his servant. Pilate and the Jews condemned our Lord to death as a malefactor; God showed his immaculate innocence by his resurrection from the dead.

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A.R. Fausset

29. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame—(Ps. 71:13). and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle (vv. 18, 19)—‘with a long mantle’ reaching to the ankles. ‘Let them cover themselves with shame from head to foot.’ 30. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. The conclusion is praise (Ps. 7:17; 69:30). yea, I will praise him among the multitude—(Ps. 22:22.)

31. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul. So counteracting “Satan,” who also stands at the poor sufferer’s right hand to accuse and destroy him (v. 6; Zech. 3:1–5). This is the purpose, in relation to us, for which Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, to be our Advocate (1 John 2:1; Ps. 16:8; 110:5; 121:5).

A. R. Fausset, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Job–Isaiah, vol. III (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 345.

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Cross References

⁸ I have set the Lord always before me:

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 16:8.

²⁶Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt:

Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 35:26.

²²They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame;

And the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Job 8:22.

⁵ The Lord is thy keeper:

The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 121:5.

¹⁷No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;

And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Isaiah 54:17.

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KJV W/Strongs Bible

109:29 Let mine adversaries 7853 8802 be clothed 3847 8799 with shame 3639, and let them cover 5844 8799 themselves with their own confusion 1322, as with a mantle 4598.

109:30 I will greatly 3966 praise 3034 8686 the LORD 3068 with my mouth 6310; yea, I will praise 1984 8762 him among 8432 the multitude 7227.

109:31 For he shall stand 5975 8799 at the right hand 3225 of the poor 34, to save 3467 8687 [him] from those that condemn 8199 8802 his soul 5315.(those…: Heb. the judges of)

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Geneva Bible 1560

Psalm 109:29-31

29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their confusion, as with a cloke.

30 I wil give thanks unto the Lord greatly with my (q) mouth, and praise him among the multitude.

31 For he wil stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from them that would (r) condemne his soul.

(q) Not only in confessing it secretly in myself, but also in declaring it before all the Congregation. (r)Hereby he shows that he had not to do with them, that were of little power, but with the judges and princes of the world.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV