Psalms 109:10
in Psalms 109May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let his children be vagabonds, and beg; And let them seek their bread out of their desolate places.
KJV
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
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This verse in Psalms 109
Commentary
9 notes on this verseLet his children be continually vagabonds, and beg. May they have neither house nor home, settlement nor substance; and while they thus wander and beg may it ever be on their memory that their father's house lies in ruins, —let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. It has often been so: a race of tyrants has become a generation of beggars. Misused power and abused wealth have earned the family name universal detestation, and secured to the family character an entail of baseness.
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Let the extortioner search out all his substance, and let the strangers spoil his labour" [Psalm 109:10].
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The Psalm: Let his children be carried about vagabonds and beg: but nothing that the Psalmist, speaking in the Spirit of God, imprecates as a punishment pertains to evangelical perfection or perfect justice; begging is of this kind: therefore, etc. To that which is objected, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), because they are conscious to themselves that all mankind have reason to hate them for their father's sake. (4.) That his estate should be ruined, as the estates of malefactors are confiscated (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg. May they have neither house nor home, settlement nor substance; and while they thus wander and beg may it ever be on their memory that their father's house lies in ruins, —let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. It has often been so: a race of tyrants has become a generation of beggars. Misused power and abused wealth have earned the family name universal detestation, and secured to the family character an entail of baseness. Justice herself would award no such doom except upon the supposition that the sin descended with the blood; but supreme providence which in the end is pure justice has written many a page of history in which the imprecation of this verse has been literally verified. We confess that as we read some of these verses we have need of all our faith and reverence to accept them as the voice of inspiration; but the exercise is good for the soul, for it educates our sense of ignorance, and tests our teachability. Yes, Divine Spirit, we can and do believe that even these dread words from which we shrink have a meaning consistent with the attributes of the Judge of all the earth, though his name is love. How this may be we shall know hereafter.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Set his children - beg - The father having lost his office, the children must necessarily be destitute; and this is the hardest lot to which any can become subject, after having been born to the expectation of an ample fortune.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg - Let them continually wander about with no home - no fixed habitation. Let them be compelled to ask their daily food at the hand of charity. Here we enter on a part of the psalm which is more difficult to be reconciled with a proper feeling than the portions which have been considered. It is, indeed, a frequent consequence of crime that the children of those who are punished “are” vagabonds and beggars, but this is not a necessary consequence; and there “seems” here, therefore, to be a mixture of personal feeling, or a feeling of revenge. This runs through the remaining portion of the imprecatory part of the psalm. I confess that it is difficult to explain this without admitting that the expressions are a record only of what actually occurred in the mind of a man, truly pious, but not perfect - a man who thus, to illustrate the workings of the mind even when the general character was holy, was allowed to record his own feelings, though wrong, just as he would record the conduct of another, or his own conduct, though wrong, as a simple matter of fact - a record of what actually was felt. The “record” may be exactly correct; the sentiment recorded may have been wholly incapable of vindication. See the General Introduction, Section 6 (6). Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places - In places uninhabited by man; in barren regions; in deserts: let them be compelled to live on the scanty food which they may pick up there - the roots, or the wild fruits, which will simply keep them alive. See the notes at Job 30:4.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
and [people] should ask and search from their ruins Everyone will ask about them, what happened to So-and-so and So-and-so, because of the rumor of ruin that emerged about them.
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
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנ֤וֹעַ | venoa' | and really <wander> | H5128 → | 40 times |
| יָנ֣וּעוּ | yanuu | may they wander | H5128 → | 40 times |
| בָנָ֣יו | vanav | children his | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וְשִׁאֵ֑לוּ | veshielu | and they will beg | H7592 → | 171 times |
| וְ֝דָרְשׁ֗וּ | vedareshu | and they will seek | H1875 → | 164 times |
| מֵחָרְבוֹתֵיהֶֽם׃ | mecharevoteihem | away from ruins their | H2723 → | 42 times |
וְנ֤וֹעַand really <wander>
venoa'H5128 →40 times
יָנ֣וּעוּmay they wander
yanuuH5128 →40 times
בָנָ֣יוchildren his
vanavH1121 →4930 times
וְשִׁאֵ֑לוּand they will beg
veshieluH7592 →171 times
וְ֝דָרְשׁ֗וּand they will seek
vedareshuH1875 →164 times
מֵחָרְבוֹתֵיהֶֽם׃away from ruins their
mecharevoteihemH2723 →42 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
Psalms 37:25I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Psalms 37:28
For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
- Psalms 25:13
His soul will dwell in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.
- Psalms 112:2
His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
- 1 Samuel 12:22
Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.
- Hebrews 13:5
Through
Psalms 59:15They scavenge for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.
it leads to
- Job 15:23
He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
- Job 15:23
Through
2 Kings 5:27Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.
it leads to
- Exodus 4:6
Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.
- Exodus 4:6
Through
Isaiah 16:2Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:8
Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who wanders from his home.
- Proverbs 27:8
Where this verse is studied
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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; Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.