Psalms 109:13

Psa 109:13 Let his posterity be cut off; [and] in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

Ver. 13. Let his posterity be cut Off] Sit eius exitus excidium, so some render it, let his end be destruction; and it is better to take it, as we translate, "Let his posterity," &c. Let them be razed and rooted out of remembrance, they and their whole race.

Let their name be blotted out] That they may not live, so much as by fame. The Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, have no memorial but what they have in the Bible, and that is for no good. And the like may be said of Meroz, Jdg 5:23, which seemeth to have been some city near the place where the battle was fought; but what it was none can determine, since there is no mention elsewhere to be found of it, which seemeth to be an effect of that bitter curse pronounced against it. See Pro 10:7.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 109:13-15. Let his posterity, &c. — His posterity shall be cut off, &c: they suffered an excision by the Roman sword, and in the generation following, their name, as a church, and civil polity, were blotted out of the list of states and kingdoms. Let the iniquity of his father be remembered — Hebrew, יזכר, it shall be remembered against him, or punished in him, as God had threatened to deal with great delinquents, Exo 20:5. Let them be — יהיו, they shall be, namely, the sins of his parents last mentioned; before the Lord — In God’s sight and memory, to provoke him to punish them: they shall not be covered nor pardoned. That upon them, as Christ foretold, might come all the righteous blood shed from the blood of righteous Abel; &c., Mat 22:25. For “the blood of the prophets cried for vengeance against those who crucified the Lord of the prophets.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. (Psa 109:13) Let his posterity be cut off; in the next generation, blotted out be their name. The word for posterity strictly means futurity, after part, or latter end. See above, Psa 37:37-38. Cut off, literally for cutting off. The next or ufter generation, as in Psa 48:13. The plural pronoun their refers to the collective noun posterity.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

109:13 If one’s family name was blotted out, it meant there was no offspring to carry on the family name or remember its history (see Prov 10:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Let his posterity be cut off. This is a continuation of the same subject, upon the consideration of which the prophet had just now entered, that God would visit the iniquities of the fathers upon their children. And as he had to deal with the whole court of Saul, and not with any single individual, he here employs the plural number. But as in deeds of wickedness, there are always some who are the prime movers, and act as the ringleaders of others, we need not be surprised that having spoken of one person, he next addresses the many, and then returns to the same person. The more natural and simple mode of explanation is to refer it to his offspring, for the Hebrew term which signifies posterity is collective, implying a multitude, and not a single individual only. This is a heavier imprecation than the former. It sometimes happens, that a family, overthrown by an unexpected disaster, rises up again at a subsequent period; here, however, it is the wish of the prophet, that the wicked may be so completely ruined, as never to be able to regain their former state; for thus much is implied in their name being effaced in the next generation, or after the lapse of ages.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) Posterity.—The Hebrew theory of the Divine government was, that if ruin did not overtake the sinner himself, it would fall on his posterity; his name would be forgotten, and his race extinct.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Cp. Psa_37:28; Psa_37:38; Job_18:13-21. May his sons die childless, and in the next generation their name be removed from the register of citizens. Cp. Psa_69:28. An Israelite, with his strong sense of family solidarity, looked forward to living on in his descendants; and the extinction of the family was contemplated as the most terrible of calamities. P.B.V. ‘his name,’ follows the Vulg. from the LXX.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,.... Not of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who, though they had their failings, they were not remembered, and much less punished in their posterity, but were forgiven: rather of the Amorites and Hittites; the one being said to be the father, and the other the mother, of the Jews, Eze 16:3, they succeeding them in their land, and imitating their example, and committing the same sins they did: or rather of their wicked ancestors, who killed the prophets; and the measure of whose sins Judas and the Jews filled up in crucifying Christ, see Mat 23:31. The iniquity of these may be said to be remembered, it not being forgiven, when it was brought to account, and punished in their posterity, doing the same wicked actions; compare with this Rev 16:19.

And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out: or forgiven; but stand as a debt to be accounted for: meaning not the sin of his mother Eve, nor of his immediate parent; but either of the Hittite as before, or of the synagogue of the Jews, or Jerusalem, which killed the prophets of the Lord.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In the generation following, Heb. in another generation; either in the third generation, or in the second, or that which next followed the generation of his fathers. So in this clause he limits the time of that destruction which he imprecates or foretells in the former.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 13. Let 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.

Psalms 109:14*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Posterity be cut off—The word “posterity” literally signifies the end, or future of the man, and the form answers to Psa_37:38, “The end of the wicked shall be cut off.” But the second member requires the sense of “posterity,” as in the English version, (Septuagint, τεκνα αυτου, their children,) which sense the Hebrew admits, though it is of extreme rarity.

The idea is, in one generation his family name shall be blotted out. Thus his future shall be cut off. And this implies also the extinction of all his hopes and plans.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let his posterity be cut off. If he have children; let them die without offspring; literally, let them be for extinction. And in the generation following let their name be blotted out. This would be the natural result if the preceding wish were accomplished. The family having come to an end, their very name would be soon forgotten. (comp. Job_18:18 Psa_37:28 Pro_10:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

in another generation that will come after his being cut off, his name and his fame will be blotted out so that not even a remembrance will remain of him in the mouth of the generation that is born in the world after his name will be destroyed, sa retremure in Old French, its extirpation.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.