Psalm 109:12

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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 mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, Go, ye cursed, upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him - Let him find compassion and sympathy in no one. When he suffers, let him be left to bear it alone. Let there be none found to shed a tear of compassion over him, or to relieve him. Literally, "Let there be no one to draw out kindness to him."

Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children - To show them mercy or kindness. See the notes at Psalm 109:10.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9, 10. Let his family share the punishment, his children be as wandering beggars to prowl in their desolate homes, a greedy and relentless creditor grasp his substance, his labor, or the fruit of it, enure to strangers and not his heirs, and his unprotected, fatherless children fall in want, so that his posterity shall utterly fail.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Let him and his be unpitied and hated as the public enemies of mankind.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him,.... No pity is ever expressed at hearing or reading the sad case of Judas; and though the Jews were pitied of those that carried them captive to Babylon, Psalm 106:46, yet, in their last destruction by the Romans, no mercy was shown them; the wrath of God and man came upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thessalonians 2:16.

Neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children: to bestow any benefit upon them; to relieve their wants, nor to protect their persons; no more respect shown them than to their father, being shunned and hated for their father's sake.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Let him have none to continue lovingkindness to him as represented in his children; nor any one to have pity on his orphans.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Let there be none to extend (literally, continue) mercy unto him. In his need, let none of his neighbors continue to show him mercy and loving-kindness. Let them stand aloof, and remain passive, while punishment overtakes him. Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let them too be suffered to endure the woes which come naturally upon them (see ver. 10) through their father's fault, without any one thinking it necessary, because they arc fatherless, to show them favor. Psalm 109:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Piel נקּשׁ properly signifies to catch in snares; here, like the Arabic Arab. nqš, II, IV, corresponding to the Latin obligare (as referring to the creditor's right of claim); nosheh is the name of the creditor as he who gives time for payment, gives credit (vid., Isaiah 24:2). In Psalm 109:12 משׁך חסד, to draw out mercy, is equivalent to causing it to continue and last, Psalm 36:11, cf. Jeremiah 31:3. אחריתו, Psalm 109:13, does not signify his future, but as Psalm 109:13 (cf. Psalm 37:38) shows: his posterity. יהי להכרית is not merely exscindatur, but exscindenda sit (Ezekiel 30:16, cf. Joshua 2:6), just as in other instances חיה ל corresponds to the active fut. periphrasticum, e.g., Genesis 15:12; Isaiah 37:26. With reference to ימּח instead of ימּח (contracted from ימּחה), vid., Ges. 75, rem. 8. A Jewish acrostic interpretation of the name ישׁוּ runs: ימּח שׁמו וזכרו. This curse shall overtake the family of the υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας. All the sins of his parents and ancestors shall remain indelible above before God the Judge, and here below the race, equally guilty, shall be rooted out even to its memory, i.e., to the last trace of it.