Psalm 109

^I “leader” = natsach. Properly, something that glitters from a distance. So, something that stands out, excels, has status/standing (such as a chief musician or superintendent of Temple services). This can also mean to be permanent or enduring.
^II “David” = David. From the same as dod (beloved, love, uncle); the root may mean to boil, which is used figuratively to describe love. So, this implies someone you love such as a friend, a lover, or a close family member like an uncle. David’s name likely means something like “beloved one.”
^III “Psalm” = mizmor. From zamar (making music; used specially of music to worship God; music with singing, singing praise, singing psalms); may be from zamar (to trim or prune). This is a melody or a psalm.

^IV “be silent” = charash. This is to scratch, which implies etching or plowing. It can mean to manufacture regardless of materials used. Figuratively, it can be to devise or conceal. It can also have a sense of secrecy. Hence, being silent or left alone. It can also be speechless.
^V “God” = Elohim.
^VI “praise” = tehillah. From halal (to praise, be boastful). This is praise or a song of praise. It is to offer God a hymn, to boast in God. This shares a root with “hallelujah.”

^VII “wicked” = rasha. This is morally wrong so it refers to someone who is actively bad as wicked, criminal, an evil person, offender, condemned, or ungodly.
^VIII “deceitful” = mirmah. From ramah (to betray, deceive, beguile). This is deceit, treachery, guile, or fraud.
^IX “mouths” = peh. This is mouth in a literal or figurative sense. So, more literally, it can be beak or jaws. More figuratively, it refers to speech, commands, or promises.
^X “opened” = pathach. This is to open wide in a literal or figurative sense. So, it is open, draw out, let something go free, break forth. It can also mean to plow, engrave, or carve.

^XI “speaking” = dabar. This is generally to speak, answer, declare, or command. It might mean to arrange and so to speak in a figurative sense as arranging words.
^XII “lying” = shaqar. This is deception, lie, disappointment, or thing that is vain.
^XIII “tongues” = lashon. This is tongue, talker, language, or wedge. It can also be a tongue of flame or a water cove.

^XIV “beset” = sabab. This is turning around, going around; to surround, cast, walk, fetch. It is to revolve or border in a literal or figurative sense.
^XV “words” = dabar. Related to “speaking” in v2. From dabar (see note XI above). This is speech, a word, a matter, an affair, charge, command, message, promise, purpose, report, request. It is a word, which implies things that are spoken of in a wide sense.
^XVI “hate” = sinah. 16x in OT. From sane (to hate in a personal way). This is hatred.
^XVII “attack” = lacham. This is to eat or feed on. Figuratively, it is to battle as a kind of consumption/destruction.
^XVIII “without cause” = chinnam. From chen (grace, favor, kindness, beauty, precious); from chanan (beseech, show favor, be gracious; properly, to bend in kindness to someone with less status). This is out of favor, so it can mean without cost, without payment, nothing, vain, or useless.

^XIX “love” = ahabah. From ahab (love or affection); from aheb (to love, beloved, friend; to have affection for sexually or otherwise). This is love as a noun.
^XX “accuse” = satan. 6x in OT. From satan (adversary, Satan). This is to be an adversary, attack, accuse, resist. This is the root that “Satan” is taken from.
^XXI “prayer” = tephillah. From palal (to judge for oneself or in an official capacity; to pray or make supplication, to entreat). This is prayer or intercession. It can also be a hymn.

^XXII “reward” = sum. This is to put or place in a literal or figurative sense. It can be appoint, care, change, make, and may other things.
^XXIII “evil” = ra’. From ra’a’ (to be evil, bad, afflict; properly, to spoil – to destroy by breaking into pieces; figuratively, to cause something to be worthless; this is bad in a physical, social, or moral sense; that which displeases, to do harm or mischief, to punish or vex). This is bad, disagreeable, that which causes pain, misery, something having little or no value, something that is ethically bad, wicked, injury, calamity. This refers to anything that is not what it ought to be – a natural disaster, a disfigurement, an injury, a sin.
^XXIV “good” = tob. From tob (to be pleasing, to be good). This is good, beautiful, pleasant, agreeable, bountiful, at ease. This word is used for goodness as a concept, a good thing, a good person. This can refer to prosperity and welfare as well as joy, kindness, sweetness, and graciousness. So, this is ethically good, but also enjoyably good.

^XXV “appoint” = paqad. This is to attend to or visit – can be used for a friendly or violent encounter. So, it can be to oversee, care for, avenge, or charge.
^XXVI “accuser” = satan. Related to “accuse” in v4. See note XX above.
^XXVII “stand” = amad. This is to stand up in a literal or figurative sense. So it can be establish, continue, endure, take a stand, act, be a servant, stand still, remain, stand against an enemy.
^XXVIII “right” = yamin. May be from yamam (to go or choose the right, use the right hand; to be physically fit or firm). This can mean right hand, right side, or south. Since most people are right-handed, the metaphorical usage of this word presumes that the right hand is stronger and more agile. Thus, it is the instrument of power and action.

^XXIX “tried” = shaphat. This is to judge, defend, pronounce judgment, condemn, or govern. It can refer to God judging or to human judges. This is pronouncing a verdict in favor or against so it implies consequences or punishment. It can also mean to litigate or govern as one with authority.
^XXX “found” = yatsa. This is to go or come out, bring forth, appear. It is to go out in a literal or figurative sense.
^XXXI “guilty” = rasha. Same as “wicked” in v2. See note VII above.
^XXXII “be counted” = hayah. This is to be or become, to happen.
^XXXIII “sin” = chataah. 8x in OT. From chata (to miss or go wrong and so to sin, bear the blame; it can also include the sense of forfeiting or lacking) OR from chet (sin, fault, or punishment of sin); {from chata (see above)}. This is a sin or sin offering.

^XXXIV “days” = yom. Root may mean being hot. This is the day in a literal or figurative sense. It can also mean birth, age, daylight, continually or other references to time.
^XXXV “be” = hayah. Same as “be counted” in v7. See note XXXII above.
^XXXVI “few” = me’at. From ma’at (being or becoming small, decrease, diminish, pare off). This is a little or few, lightly little while, very small matter.

^XXXVII “another” = acher. From achar (to be behind, delay, be late, procrastinate, continue). This is following, next, strange, other.
^XXXVIII “seize” = laqach. This is to take, accept, carry away, receive. It can also have the sense of take a wife or take in marriage.
^XXXIX “position” = pequddah. Related to “appoint” in v6. From paqad (see note XXV above). This is oversight, responsibility, visitation, affair – someone who has charge over something.

^XL “children” = ben. From banah (to build or obtain children). This is son, age, child. It is son in a literal or figurative sense.
^XLI “orphans” = yathom. This is a child without a father or more generally a person who is bereaved.
^XLII “wife” = ishshah. From ish (man); perhaps from enosh (human, humankind, mortal); from anash (to be weak, sick, or frail). This is woman, wife, or female.
^XLIII “widow” = almanah. Related to alman (widowed); from alam (to be silent, bound). This is a widow or a house that is desolate.

^XLIV “wander about” = nua + nua. This is to waver in a literal or figurative sense. So, it could be to tremble, quiver, totter. It could also refer to a fugitive. The word is repeated twice – the first time as an Infinitive Absolute. The Infinitive Absolute serves to emphasize the sentiment of the word. It is rather like Foghorn Leghorn’s speech pattern, “I said, I said.”
^XLV “beg” = shaal. This is to ask, inquire, beg, borrow, desire, request. It can also mean to demand.
^XLVI “driven” = darash. This is seek, ask, inquire, care for. Generally it means following in pursuit or following as part of a search, which implies seeking or asking. Also used specially to mean worship.
^XLVII “ruins” = chorbah. From chareb (to be waste or desolate, destroyer). This is ruin, desert, waste place. Properly, it is a drought, which implies a desolated or decayed place.

^XLVIII “creditor” = nashah. 13x in OT. Perhaps from nashah (to forget, neglect, remove, deprive) OR from the same as nasha (to deceive, lend with interest, debtor, delude, seduce). This is to lend, be a usurer, borrow with a pledge, creditor.
^XLIX “seize” = naqash. 5x in OT. This is to hit or bring down. It can also be to snare something using a noose in a literal or figurative sense.
^L “all” = kol. From kalal (to complete). This is all or every.

^LI “strangers” = zur. This is to come from someone else – a stranger. It is to stop for lodging. Figuratively, it can also mean to profane or commit adultery.
^LII “plunder” = bazaz. This is to spoil, loot, pillage.
^LIII “fruits of his toil” = yegia. 16x in OT. From yaga (to work, become weary, to gasp or be exhausted). This is that which comes from labor – product, possession, fruit, toil, wages, etc.

^LIV “do” = mashak. This is to draw, drag, or pull. It can mean sow, march, remove, draw along, continue, extend, or prolong.
^LV “kindness” = chesed. From chasad (being good, kind, merciful; may mean bowing one’s neck as is done in the presence of an equal for courtesy’s sake; so, if one in a superior position is treating you like an equal, that is what is captured here). This is favor, goodness, kindness, loving kindness, pity, reproach, or a good deed. When done by God to humanity, this is mercy/loving kindness. When done by humanity to God, it is piety.
^LVI “pity” = chanan. Related to “without cause” in v3. See note XVIII above.

^LVII “posterity” = acharith. Related to “another” in v8. From achar (see note XXXVII above). This is the last, length, remnant, end, reward, future.
^LVIII “cut off” = karat. This is to cut down, cut off, or make a covenant (idiom for making a covenant is “to cut a covenant”). It can also mean to destroy, fail, or consume.
^LIX “name” = shem. Related to “reward” in v5. May be from sum (see note XXII above). This is name, fame, renown. A name was thought to indicate something essential about a person – something about their individuality. So, this word can also mean honor, authority, or character.
^LX “blotted out” = machah. This is to rub, which implies to erase. It can also be making something smooth with grease or oil. So, this could we wipe out, blot out, or destroy. Also, to touch or reach.
^LXI “second” = acher. Same as “another” in v8. See note XXXVII above.
^LXII “generation” = dor. From dur (to move in a circle, which implies living somewhere or remaining there; it can also be the sense of piling or heaping up). This is a revolution of time, which is to say, an age or generation. It can also be a dwelling or one’s posterity.

^LXIII “iniquity” = avon. Perhaps related to avah (to bend, twist, be amiss). This is sin, mischief, guilt, fault, punishment for iniquity, or moral evil.
^LXIV “father” = ab. This is father, chief, or ancestor. It is father in a literal or figurative sense.
^LXV “be remembered” = zakar. This is to remember, to mark something so that it can be recalled, to be mindful of, to mention.
^LXVI “Lord” = YHVH. Related to “be counted” in v7. From havah (to be, become) or hayah (see note XXXII above). This is the name of the God of Israel, the self-existent and eternal one, the tetragrammaton. This pronunciation has been lost to time so “Lord” is generally used in its place.
^LXVII “sin” = chatta’ah. Related to “sin” in v7. From chata’ (see note XXXIII above). This is sin itself as well as punishment for sin. It is sometimes used specifically to refer to sin that is habitual.
^LXVIII “mother” = em. This is a mother as binding a family together or a breeding female animal. It could be mother in a literal or figurative sense.

^LXIX “before” = neged. From nagad (to declare, make conspicuous, stand in front, manifest, predict, explain). This is in front of, opposite to. It can refer to a counterpart or partner, one corresponding to or in the sight of.
^LXX “continually” = tamid. May come from a word that means to stretch. This word means an indefinite period of time. So, it could be regular or daily. It could also be constantly, continually, always, or perpetually.
^LXXI “memory” = zeker. Related to “be remembered” in v14. From zakar (see note LXV above). This is remembrance, renown, memento, recollection, or commemoration.
^LXXII “earth” = erets. Root may mean to be firm. This is earth, ground, field land, or country.

^LXXIII “show” = asah. This is to make, do, act, appoint, become in many senses.
^LXXIV “pursued” = radaph. This is to chase after, pursue, hunt, or persecute. It is running after someone or something, generally with hostile motives.
^LXXV {untranslated} = ish. Related to “wife” in v9. See note XLII above.
^LXXVI “poor” = ani. From anah (to be bowed down; humility or being browbeaten, oppressed, afflicted, or depressed; literal or figurative – depressed in mood or circumstance). This is humble, lowly, poor, or afflicted.
^LXXVII “needy” = ebyon. From abah (to consent, obey, want, yield, accept). This is needy, poor, beggar. Someone who is wanting.

^LXXVIII “brokenhearted” = nake + lebab. Nake is 5x in OT. From naka (to smite, drive away). This is broken, stricken, or afflicted. Lebab may be related to labab (to encourage; properly, to be encased as with fat; used in a good sense, this means to transport someone with love; used in a bad sense, it can mean to dull one’s senses). This is the heart, courage, one’s inner self, the mind, or the will. Heart is only used in a figurative sense in the Old and New Testaments.
^LXXIX “death” = mut. This is to die in a literal or figurative sense. It can also refer to being a dead body.

^LXXX “loved” = aheb. Related to “love” in v4. See note XIX above.
^LXXXI “curse” = qelalah. From qalal (to be little, insignificant, swift; to bring down in esteem, create contempt, curse). This is cursing or vilification.
^LXXXII “come” = bo. This is to enter, come in, advance, fulfill, bring offerings, enter to worship, attack. It can also have a sexual connotation.
^LXXXIII “like” = chaphets. Properly, this means inclined towards or bending to. Figuratively, it means to desire, delight in, or be pleased with.
^LXXXIV “blessing” = barakah. From barak (to kneel, bless; blessing God as part of worship and adoration; blessing humans to help them; can be used as a euphemism to say curse God). This is blessing, which implies prosperity or peace.
^LXXXV “be far” = rachaq. This is to widen, become distant, cast, or remove. It can be in a literal or figurative sense.

^LXXXVI “clothed” = labash. This is to wrap around, which implies clothing oneself or someone else. This is wrapping around in a literal or figurative way.
^LXXXVII “coat” = mad. 11x in OT. From madad (to measure, stretch, be extended, continue). This is measure, cloth, cloak, armor, stature, height.
^LXXXVIII “soak” = bo. Same as “come” in v17. See note LXXXII above.
^LXXXIX “body” = qereb. Perhaps from qarab (to come near or approach). This is among, in the midst, before, the center It is the inward part, whether literal or figurative. It can also be used for the heart, the site of thoughts and feelings. This word is also used as a technical term for the entrails of the animals who are sacrificed.
^XC “water” = mayim. This is water, waters, or waterway in a general sense. Figuratively, it can also mean juice, urine, or semen.
^XCI “oil” = shemen. From shamen (to shine, which implies being oily, growing fat). This is fat, oil, grease, olive oil – often with perfume. Used figuratively for fertile, lavish, rich.
^XCII “bones” = etsem. From atsam (vast, numerous, strong; to close one’s eyes, to make powerful; to break bones). This is self, life, strength, bone, or substance.

^XCIII “garment” = beged. From bagad (to cover or conceal; figuratively, to act in a covert or treacherous way, to transgress or pillage). This is clothing, garment, robe, or some other kind of clothing. Figuratively, it can be treachery or pillaging.
^XCIV “wraps around” = atah. 17x in OT. This is to wrap, cover, veil, be clad, turn aside.
^XCV “belt” = maziyach. 3x in OT. From zachach (to remove, come loose). This is a belt or girdle. It can also mean strength.
^XCVI “wears” = chagar. This is to gird, bind, or arm. Generally, it is using a belt to gather up one’s garment so that it’s easier to run or move quickly.
^XCVII “every day” = tamid. Same as “continually” in v15. See note LXX above.

^XCVIII “reward” = peullah. 14x in OT. From paal (to do, make, work, or accomplish; generally refers to regularly repeated or systematic action – to practice). This is work, deed, reward, or wages.
^XCIX “life” = nephesh. Related to naphash (to refresh or be refreshed). This is soul, self, person, emotion. It is a breathing creature. Can also refer to appetites and desires.
^C “Lord” = YHVH. Related to “be counted” in v7 & “Lord” in v14. It has the same meaning as “Lord” in v14, but with a different vowel pointing. See note LXVI above.
^CI “Lord” = Adonai. From adon (lord, master, owner); root means to rule or be sovereign. This is the actual Hebrew word for Lord used (in a different form) of humans and (in the present form) of God. It means someone who is in control.

^CII “act” = asah. Same as “show” in v16. See note LXXIII above.
^CIII “steadfast love” = chesed. Same as “kindness” in v12. See note LV above.
^CIV “deliver” = natsal. This is to snatch someone or something away in a good sense – as rescue, defend, or deliver – or in a bad sense – as strip or plunder.
^CV “is pierced” = chalal. This is to pierce, which implies to wound. It is used figuratively for making someone or something profane or breaking your word. It can also mean to begin as though one opened a wedge. Also, to eat something as a common thing.
^CVI “within” = qereb. Same as “body” in v18. See note LXXXIX above.

^CVII “am gone” = halak. This is go, come, walk. It is walk literally and figuratively and includes people and animals. It can be used figuratively for one’s moral life – how we walk according to God’s way or against it. It can also refer to the walk of life as in the course one’s life takes, the choices we make, etc.
^CVIII “shadow” = tsel. From tsalal (to be or become dark, shade; this is the shade as during twilight or shadow as associated with something opaque). This is shade in a literal or figurative sense. So, it could be shadow, shade, protection, shelter, or defense.
^CIX “at evening” = natah. This is to stretch or spread out, to extend, or bend. In can also imply moral deflection.
^CX “shaken off” = naar. 11x in OT. This is to shake, toss up and down, tumble around, overthrow, shake off.
^CXI “locust” = arbeh. From rabah (increasing in any aspect whether quantity, authority, size, quality, greatness, etc.). This is a locust from its abundance – a swarming locust or grasshopper.

^CXII “knees” = berek. Related to “blessing” in v17. From barak (see note LXXXIV above). This is the knee.
^CXIII “are weak” = kashal. This is to stumble, fail, be weak or decayed, be overthrown, to totter. It can refer to weak legs or ankles so it is falter, faint, or fall.
^CXIV “fasting” = tsom. From tsum (properly, covering one’s mouth; by extension, abstaining from food). This is fasting or a fast.
^CXV “body” = basar. From basar (being a messenger, publish, carry preach; properly, this is being fresh, rosy or cheerful as one bearing news). This is flesh, the body, fat, skin, self, nakedness, humankind, or kin. It can also refer to private parts.
^CXVI “become gaunt” = kachash + shemen. Kachash is deceive, fail, or deny. It can be lying or disappointing. It can also mean becoming lean or cringe. Shemen is the same as “oil” in v18. See note XCI above.

^CXVII “object of scorn” = cherpah. From charaph (to expose and so figuratively to reproach, defame, carp at, defy). This is reproach, rebuke, shame, or disgrace. It can also refer to genitals.
^CXVIII “see” = raah. This is to see in a literal or figurative sense so stare, advise, think, view.
^CXIX “shake” = nua. Same as “wander about” in v10. See note XLIV above.
^CXX “heads” = rosh. This may come a word that means to shake. It is the head, captain, or chief. It can also be excellent or the forefront. It can be first in position or in statue or in time (i.e. the beginning).

^CXXI “help” = azar. This is to surround, which implies encircling to protect someone or help them out. It can also be help, ally, or support.
^CXXII “Lord” = YHVH. Same as “Lord” in v14. See note LXVI above.
^CXXIII “save” = yasha. To deliver, defend, help, preserve, rescue, be safe. Properly, to be open, wide or free, which implies being safe. Used causatively, it means to free.

^CXXIV “know” = yada. This is to know, acknowledge, advise, answer, be aware, be acquainted with. Properly, this is to figure something out by seeing. It includes ideas of observation, recognition, and care about something. It can be used causatively for instruction, designation, and punishment.
^CXXV “hand” = yad. This is hand, ability, power. Hand in a literal sense, but also what one can do or the means by which one does it.
^CXXVI “Lord” = YHVH. Same as “Lord” in v14. See note LXVI above.
^CXXVII “done” = asah. Same as “show” in v16. See note LXXIII above.

^CXXVIII “let…curse” = qalal. Related to “curse” in v17. See note LXXXI above.
^CXXIX “bless” = barak. Related to “blessing” in v17 & “knees” in v24. See note LXXXIV above.
^CXXX “assailants” = qum. To arise, stand, accomplish, establish, abide. This is rising as in rising against, getting up after being sick or asleep, arising from one state to another, becoming powerful, or rising for action. It can also be standing in a figurative sense.
^CXXXI “be put to shame” = bosh. Properly, this means to be pale, which implies shame, disappointment, or confusion.
^CXXXII “servant” = ebed. From abad (to work, serve, compel; any kind of work; used causatively, can mean to enslave or keep in bondage). This is a servant, slave, or bondservant.
^CXXXIII “be glad” = samach. This is to sprout, grow, or spring up – literal or figurative.

^CXXXIV “dishonor” = kelimmah. From kalam (bearing shame, bringing dishonor or disgrace, humiliate insult, taunt, embarrass, reproach; properly to wound in a figurative sense). This is insult, disgrace, dishonor, humiliation, shame, or reproach.
^CXXXV “shame” = bosheth. Related to “be put to shame” in v28. From bosh (see note CXXXI above). This is shame.
^CXXXVI “mantle” = meil. From maal (to cover up; figuratively, to act in a covert or treacherous way, to be unfaithful or transgress). This is a robe, mantle, or cloak – an outer garment.

^CXXXVII “great” = meod. Perhaps from the same as uwd (firebrand, a poker). This is very, greatly, exceedingly. It can also mean vehemence, force, abundance.
^CXXXVIII “give thanks” = yadah. From yad (hand). This is to throw one’s hands into the air in a gesture of praise. So, it is to praise, give thanks, or make a confession.
^CXXXIX “Lord” = YHVH. Same as “Lord” in v14. See note LXVI above.
^CXL “praise” = halal. Related to “praise” in v1. See note VI above.
^CXLI “throng” = rab. From rabab (increasing in any aspect whether quantity, authority, size, quality, greatness, etc.). This is abundance, many, elder, exceedingly, great. It refers to abundance of amount, rank, or status.
^CXLII “condemn” = shaphat. Sam as “tried” in v7. See note XXIX above.
^CXLIII “death” = nephesh. Same as “life” in v20. See note XCIX above.