Psalms 35:12

12 They repay me evil for good. I am sick with despair.

Psalms 35:12 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 35:12

They rewarded me evil for good
For the good David did in killing Goliath, and slaying his ten thousands of the Philistines, and thereby saving his king and country, Saul and his courtiers envied him, and sought to slay him: so our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the good he did to the Jews, by healing their bodies of diseases, and preaching the Gospel to them for the benefit of their souls, was rewarded with reproaches and persecutions, and at last with the shameful death of the cross; and in like manner are his people used; but this is an evil that shall not go unpunished; see ( Proverbs 17:13 ) . It is added,

[to] the spoiling of my soul;
or "to the bereaving of it" ^F20; causing it to be fatherless; that is, to the bereaving it of its joy, peace, and comfort; so fatherless is put for comfortless, ( John 14:18 ) ; or to the taking away of his soul, which being separated from the body, its companion is left alone, as one that is fatherless.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (lwkv) "orbitatem", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.

Psalms 35:12 In-Context

10 With every bone in my body I will praise him: “ LORD, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them?”

11 Malicious witnesses testify against me. They accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.

12 They repay me evil for good. I am sick with despair.

13 Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them, but my prayers returned unanswered.

14 I was sad, as though they were my friends or family, as if I were grieving for my own mother.