Psalms 35

1 Harass these hecklers, God, punch these bullies in the nose.

2 Grab a weapon, anything at hand; stand up for me!

3 Get ready to throw the spear, aim the javelin, at the people who are out to get me. Reassure me; let me hear you say, "I'll save you."

4 When those thugs try to knife me in the back, make them look foolish. Frustrate all those who are plotting my downfall.

5 Make them like cinders in a high wind, with God's angel working the bellows.

6 Make their road lightless and mud-slick, with God's angel on their tails.

7 Out of sheer cussedness they set a trap to catch me; for no good reason they dug a ditch to stop me.

8 Surprise them with your ambush - catch them in the very trap they set, the disaster they planned for me.

9 But let me run loose and free, celebrating God's great work,

10 Every bone in my body laughing, singing, "God, there's no one like you. You put the down-and-out on their feet and protect the unprotected from bullies!"

11 Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere, they stand up and badger me.

12 They pay me back misery for mercy, leaving my soul empty.

13 When they were sick, I dressed in black; instead of eating, I prayed.

14 My prayers were like lead in my gut, like I'd lost my best friend, my brother. I paced, distraught as a motherless child, hunched and heavyhearted.

15 But when I was down they threw a party! All the nameless riffraff of the town came chanting insults about me.

16 Like barbarians desecrating a shrine, they destroyed my reputation.

17 God, how long are you going to stand there doing nothing? Save me from their brutalities; everything I've got is being thrown to the lions.

18 I will give you full credit when everyone gathers for worship; When the people turn out in force I will say my Hallelujahs.

19 Don't let these liars, my enemies, have a party at my expense, Those who hate me for no reason, winking and rolling their eyes.

20 No good is going to come from that crowd; They spend all their time cooking up gossip against those who mind their own business.

21 They open their mouths in ugly grins, Mocking, "Ha-ha, ha-ha, thought you'd get away with it? We've caught you hands down!"

22 Don't you see what they're doing, God? You're not going to let them Get by with it, are you? Not going to walk off without doing something, are you?

23 Please get up - wake up! Tend to my case. My God, my Lord - my life is on the line.

24 Do what you think is right, God, my God, but don't make me pay for their good time.

25 Don't let them say to themselves, "Ha-ha, we got what we wanted." Don't let them say, "We've chewed him up and spit him out."

26 Let those who are being hilarious at my expense Be made to look ridiculous. Make them wear donkey's ears; Pin them with the donkey's tail, who made themselves so high and mighty!

27 But those who want the best for me, Let them have the last word - a glad shout! - and say, over and over and over, "God is great - everything works together for good for his servant."

28 I'll tell the world how great and good you are, I'll shout Hallelujah all day, every day.

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.