Psalm 41 · a question people ask
"Raise me up, that I may repay them" (41:10). Is the psalmist asking to get even?
The verse is a prayer to the LORD: "But you, LORD, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them" (41:10). Repay is shalam (tap repay), and for this form of the verb Brown-Driver-Briggs gives, among its uses, "make good, i.e. pay" and "requite, recompense, reward". The psalm doesn't say how he would repay them. Its next words are about what the LORD does: "By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me" (41:11), and "As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever" (41:12). Psalm 41 is not the only psalm that prays against enemies, and Christians read these prayers in more than one way. The chapter on Psalm 109 sets out the main readings, each resting on its verses, and chooses none. These notes don't choose either.
The verses
“But you, LORD, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them. By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me. As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.”
“For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. God of my praise, don’t remain silent, for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer. They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”