Bible Strands
Psalms 109:7
When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist pronounces a judicial curse against a specific enemy, immediately after requesting a wicked accuser to stand at his right hand. This utterance functions as a formal plea for divine condemnation during a legal dispute.
The words — תְפִלָּתוֹ (tefilato) translates literally as "his prayer," and חֲטָאָה (chat'ah) means "sin." The Hebrew syntax frames the enemy's intercession as transforming directly into a sinful state rather than a accepted petition.
The thread — Proverbs 28:9 explicitly connects turning away from the law with detestable prayer. Proverbs 15:8 contrasts this by noting that while the wicked's sacrifice is detestable, the upright's prayer delights God, while Proverbs 21:27 addresses the detestable nature of the wicked's sacrifice without mentioning prayer.
Why it lands — The text establishes that judicial guilt and rejected prayer are direct outcomes of a corrupted standing before God. A reader must acknowledge that ritual or verbal appeals hold no weight when the underlying posture violates divine law.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 28:9 Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.
- Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with ill intent!
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Galatians 3:10 All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- 2 Samuel 15:7 After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the LORD.
- Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Isaiah 66:3 Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s blood; whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways and delighted in their abominations.
- Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.