Psalms 35

1 O LORD, attack those who attack me. Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Use your shields, [both] small and large. Arise to help me.
3 Hold your spear to block the way of those who pursue me. Say to my soul, "I am your savior."
4 Let those who seek my life be put to shame and disgraced. Let those who plan my downfall be turned back in confusion.
5 Let them be like husks blown by the wind as the Messenger of the LORD chases them.
6 Let their path be dark and slippery as the Messenger of the LORD pursues them.
7 For no reason they hid their net in a pit. For no reason they dug the pit [to trap me].
8 Let destruction surprise them. Let the net that they hid catch them. Let them fall into their own pit and be destroyed.
9 My soul will find joy in the LORD and be joyful about his salvation.
10 All my bones will say, "O LORD, who can compare with you? You rescue the weak person from the one who is too strong for him and weak and needy people from the one who robs them."
11 Malicious people bring charges against me. They ask me things I know nothing about.
12 I am devastated because they pay me back with evil instead of good.
13 But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth. I humbled myself with fasting. When my prayer returned unanswered,
14 I walked around as if I were mourning for my friend or my brother. I was bent over as if I were mourning for my mother.
15 Yet, when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together. They gathered together against me. Unknown attackers tore me apart without stopping.
16 With crude and abusive mockers, they grit their teeth at me.
17 O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue me from their attacks. Rescue my precious life from the lions.
18 I will give you thanks in a large gathering. I will praise you in a crowd [of worshipers].
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies gloat over me. Do not let those who hate me for no reason wink [at me].
20 They do not talk about peace. Instead, they scheme against the peaceful people in the land.
21 They open their big mouths and say about me, "Aha! Aha! Our own eyes have seen it."
22 You have seen it, O LORD. Do not remain silent. O Lord, do not be so far away from me.
23 Wake up, and rise to my defense. Plead my case, O my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me by your righteousness, O LORD my God. Do not let them gloat over me
25 or think, "Aha, just what we wanted!" Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up."
26 Let those who gloat over my downfall be thoroughly put to shame and confused. Let those who promote themselves at my expense be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 Let those who are happy when I am declared innocent joyfully sing and rejoice. Let them continually say, "The LORD is great. He is happy when his servant has peace."
28 Then my tongue will tell about your righteousness, about your praise all day long.

Psalms 35 Commentary

Chapter 35

David prays for safety. (1-10) He complains of his enemies. (11-16) And calls upon God to support him. (17-28)

Verses 1-10 It is no new thing for the most righteous men, and the most righteous cause, to meet with enemies. This is a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the Seed of the woman. David in his afflictions, Christ in his sufferings, the church under persecution, and the Christian in the hour temptation, all beseech the Almighty to appear in their behalf, and to vindicate their cause. We are apt to justify uneasiness at the injuries men do us, by our never having given them cause to use us so ill; but this should make us easy, for then we may the more expect that God will plead our cause. David prayed to God to manifest himself in his trial. Let me have inward comfort under all outward troubles, to support my soul. If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we need desire no more to make us happy. If God is our Friend, no matter who is our enemy. By the Spirit of prophecy, David foretells the just judgments of God that would come upon his enemies for their great wickedness. These are predictions, they look forward, and show the doom of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom. We must not desire or pray for the ruin of any enemies, except our lusts and the evil spirits that would compass our destruction. A traveller benighted in a bad road, is an expressive emblem of a sinner walking in the slippery and dangerous ways of temptation. But David having committed his cause to God, did not doubt of his own deliverance. The bones are the strongest parts of the body. The psalmist here proposes to serve and glorify God with all his strength. If such language may be applied to outward salvation, how much more will it apply to heavenly things in Christ Jesus!

Verses 11-16 Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse: this was the character of David's enemies. Herein he was a type of Christ. David shows how tenderly he had behaved towards them in afflictions. We ought to mourn for the sins of those who do not mourn for themselves. We shall not lose by the good offices we do to any, how ungrateful soever they may be. Let us learn to possess our souls in patience and meekness like David, or rather after Christ's example.

Verses 17-28 Though the people of God are, and study to be, quiet, yet it has been common for their enemies to devise deceitful matters against them. David prays, My soul is in danger, Lord, rescue it; it belongs to thee the Father of spirits, therefore claim thine own; it is thine, save it! Lord, be not far from me, as if I were a stranger. He who exalted the once suffering Redeemer, will appear for all his people: the roaring lion shall not destroy their souls, any more than he could that of Christ, their Surety. They trust their souls in his hands, they are one with him by faith, are precious in his sight, and shall be rescued from destruction, that they may give thanks in heaven.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 35

\\<<[A Psalm] of David>>\\. This psalm seems to have been written by David, when he was persecuted by Saul; and when many false charges were brought against him by his courtiers; and when he was the scorn and derision of the people; the subject of it is pretty much of the same kind with the seventh psalm, and might be written about the same time that was, and on the same occasion; and it may be applied to the church and people of God in like cases. There is a passage in it, Ps 35:19, which our Lord seems to refer to and apply to himself, Joh 15:25; and some interpret the whole of it concerning him. The Arabic version calls it a prophecy of the incarnation; though there does not appear any thing in it applicable to that.

Psalms 35 Commentaries

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