Psalm 109:11

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Let the extortioner.—Better, let the usurer lay traps to catch all that he hath. So Timon:

“Let prisons swallow them,

Debts wither them to nothing.”

Benson Commentary

Psalm 109:11-12. Let the extortioner catch, &c. — Hebrew, ינקשׁ נשׁה, jenakkesh nosheh, the creditor, or usurer, shall insnare all that he hath: that is, take it away, not only by oppression and violence, but by cunning artifices and fraud, whereby such persons are wont to entangle, and so ruin their debtors. Let the stranger — Who hath no right to his goods, and will use no pity in spoiling him; spoil his labour — All the fruits of his labour. Let there be — There shall be none to extend mercy to him, &c. — He and his offspring shall be unpitied and hated as the public enemies of mankind. “Since the destruction of Jerusalem how often hath this race been seized, pillaged, stripped, and empoverished by prince and people, in all the nations of the known world, none appearing, as in other cases, to favour and extend mercy to them:” see notes on Leviticus 26:21-39; Deuteronomy 28:29-68. “They have had no nation, none,” says Dr. Jackson, “to avenge their grievous wrong, which the Lord God of their forefathers had ordained they should suffer at all times and in all places, wheresoever they have come, without redress. Nay, their general carriage hath been so odious and preposterous, that albeit Christian magistrates had conspired together for their good, they would themselves have certainly provoked their own misery.”

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 the extortioner catch all that he hath - literally, "Let the extortioner cast a snare over all that he hath;" that is, let him seize all his property. The word rendered "catch" - נקשׁ nâqash - is a word which means to lay a snare, as for birds and wild animals, and hence, it means to ensnare, to entrap, to catch. The word rendered "extortioner" means literally one who lends or borrows money; a money-loaner; in our times, a "broker." Here it refers to one who loaned money on interest; or who took advantage of the necessities of others to lend money at high rates - thus sooner or later seizing upon and securing the property of another. The prayer here is, that he might be in such circumstances as to make it necessary to fall into the hands of those who would thus come into possession of all his property.

And let the strangers spoil his labor - Let strangers "plunder" his labor; that is, the fruit of his labor. Let them seize and possess what he has earned and gained to enjoy it themselves. The remarks made on Psalm 109:10, will apply to this verse and the following.

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

Extortioner; or, usurer, or creditor. Catch, Heb. insnare, which is an emphatical expression, i.e. take away not only by oppression and violence, but also by cheats and cunning artifices, whereby such persons entangle, and so ruin their debtors.

The strangers; who have no right to his goods, and will use no pity nor measure in spoiling him.

His labour; all the fruits of his labours.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath,.... Or, "lay a snare for all" (c); as the Romans did, by bringing in their army, invading the land of Judea, and besieging the city of Jerusalem; who are "the extortioner or exacter that demanded tribute of them"; which they refused to pay, and therefore they seized on all they had for it. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "the creditor"; who sometimes for a debt would take wife and children, and all that a man had; see 2 Kings 4:1. It might be literally true of Judas; who dying in debt, his wife and children, and all he had, might be laid hold on for payment.

And let the stranger spoil his labour; plunder his house of all his goods and substance he had been labouring for: which was true of the Romans, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; who came into the land, and spoiled their houses, fields, and vineyards, they had been labouring in; they took away their place and nation, and all they had, John 11:48.

(c) "illaqueet", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Piscator, Gejerus; "iretiat", Vatablus, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

Let {f} the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

(f) He declares that the curse of God lies on the extortioners, who thinking to enrich their children by their unlawfully gotten goods, are by God's just judgment deprived of all.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. Let a creditor ensnare all that he hath,

And let foreigners plunder his labour.

Ensnare is a graphic word for the wily schemes by which an unscrupulous creditor or usurious money-lender would contrive to get possession of all a man’s property. For examples of the destitution to which Israelites were sometimes brought by creditors see 2 Kings 4:1 ff.; Nehemiah 5:1-7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; rather, the creditor, or the usurer; i.e. the man from whom he has borrowed money. And let the strangers (rather, let foreigners) spoil his labor; i.e. plunder his lands, carry off his crops, and leave him destitute. Psalm 109:11

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.