Psalms 109:13
in Psalms 109May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let his posterity be cut off; In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
KJV
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
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This verse in Psalms 109
Commentary
8 notes on this verseLet his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Both from existence and from memory let them pass away till none shall know that such a vile brood ever existed. Who wishes to see the family of Domitian or Julian continued upon earth? Who would mourn if the race of Tom Paine or of Voltaire should come to an utter end? It would be undesirable that the sons of the utterly villainous and bloodthirsty should rise to honour, and if they did they would only revive the memory of their father's sins.
This site's exposition
May his children wander as beggars
on Psalms 109:10-13
The children wander as beggars, and the creditor takes everything the man owns. Strangers plunder what his labor made, and no kindness is to reach him or his fatherless children. The descendants are cut off and the name blotted out.
This site's exposition
May his descendants be cut off
Deuteronomy 25:6 sets the brother's duty to a widow so that a dead man's name is kept in Israel. This line asks for the opposite. Psalm 9:5 speaks of the name of the wicked blotted out forever.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
But what is it that he next addeth? "Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be done away" [Psalm 109:13]. Is it to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers shall be visited upon him? For upon him they are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ, and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked, by not having imitated their conduct. ...And to these words, "I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children," is added, "who hate Me;" that is, hate Me as their fathers hated Me: so that as the effect of imitating the good is that even their own sins are blotted out, so the imitation of the wicked causeth men to suffer not their own deservings only, but those also of those whom they have imitated. ...
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Let his posterity be cut off,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
posterity--literally, "end," as in Ps 37:38, or, what comes after; that is, reward, or success, or its expectation, of which posterity was to a Jew a prominent part.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Let his posterity be cut off - It is a fact that the distinction among the Jewish tribes in entirely lost. Not a Jew in the world knows from what tribe he is sprung; and as to the royal family, it remains nowhere but in the person of Jesus the Messiah. He alone is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Except as it exists in him, the name is blotted out.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let his posterity be cut off - To have a numerous posterity, to have the name and family perpetuated, was regarded among the Hebrews as one of the greatest and most desirable blessings. Hence, to pray that all one’s family might be cut off was one of the severest forms of malediction which could be employed. And in the generation following - The very next generation. Let not his family be perpetuated at all. Let their name be blotted out - As a name is erased from a catalogue or muster-roll when one dies.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
the iniquity against his forefathers The iniquity that he sinned against his forebears, to Abraham, whose life he shortened by five years, and to his father he caused blindness.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהִֽי־ | yehi- | may it be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אַחֲרִית֥וֹ | ʾacharito | posterity his | H319 → | 61 times |
| לְהַכְרִ֑ית | lehakhrit | to cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| בְּד֥וֹר | bedor | in a generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
| אַ֝חֵ֗ר | ʾacher | another | H312 → | 166 times |
| יִמַּ֥ח | yimach | may it be wiped out | H4229 → | 36 times |
| שְׁמָֽם׃ | shemam | name their | H8034 → | 864 times |
יְהִֽי־may it be
yehi-H1961 →3559 times
אַחֲרִית֥וֹposterity his
ʾacharitoH319 →61 times
לְהַכְרִ֑יתto cut off
lehakhritH3772 →288 times
בְּד֥וֹרin a generation
bedorH1755 →167 times
אַ֝חֵ֗רanother
ʾacherH312 →166 times
יִמַּ֥חmay it be wiped out
yimachH4229 →36 times
שְׁמָֽם׃name their
shemamH8034 →864 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
it leads to
- Psalms 112:6
Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous man will be remembered forever.
- Luke 1:48
For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.
- Mark 14:9
And truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
- 2 Chronicles 24:16
And Jehoiada was buried with the kings in the City of David, because he had done what was good in Israel for God and His temple.
- Psalms 112:6
Through
Psalms 37:28For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
it leads to
- Proverbs 2:22
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
- Psalms 11:7
For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
- Psalms 21:10
You will wipe their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from the sons of men.
- Proverbs 2:22
Through
Deuteronomy 9:14Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:20
The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot…
- Deuteronomy 29:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 109; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.