Psalms Chapter 109 verse 6 Holy Bible
Set thou a wicked man over him; And let an adversary stand at his right hand.
read chapter 109 in ASV
Put an evil man over him; and let one be placed at his right hand to say evil of him.
read chapter 109 in BBE
Set a wicked [man] over him, and let [the] adversary stand at his right hand;
read chapter 109 in DARBY
Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
read chapter 109 in KJV
read chapter 109 in WBT
Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.
read chapter 109 in WEB
Appoint Thou over him the wicked, And an adversary standeth at his right hand.
read chapter 109 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 6-15. - The imprecatory portion of the psalm now begins. It is no doubt true to say, with Tholuck, that "no passion is discernible in the imprecations, dreadful as they are." Clearly the writer is not moved by personal feelings of hostility, but by a spirit of justice, and an intense abhorrence of sin. He delivers a calm judicial sentence. Still, the spirit of Christian love must ever shrink from such utterances, which belong to an earlier and less perfect dispensation (comp. Luke 9:51-56). Verse 6. - Set thou a wicked man over him; i.e. to judge him (see ver. 7). A persecutor deserves to be himself persecuted, an oppressor to be himself oppressed. "Nec lex justior ulla est, Quam necis artifices arte periresua." And let Satan stand at his right hand; rather, an adversary, or an accuser. In courts of justice the accuser stood at the accused person's right hand.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) Set thou a wicked man over him.--This rendering is abundantly confirmed by Leviticus 26:16; Numbers 4:27; Numbers 27:16; Jeremiah 15:3; Jeremiah 51:27, against Hitzig's proposed "Pronounce against him--guilty," which also would only anticipate Psalm 109:7. (Comp., too, the noun "office" in Psalm 109:8, from the same verb.) The wish expressed is that the persons indicated may fall into the hands of an unscrupulous judge. If, however, we are to think of the divine judgment, then this clause must be taken as exactly parallel to the next: "Appoint a wicked man against him." Here the imprecatory part of the psalm begins, and it has been ingeniously argued that the whole of it (Psalm 109:6-20) is a quotation, giving, not the psalmist's curse on his foes, but theirs on him. Such quotations, without any introductory words, are common, and the theory is tenable, but improbable. . . .
