Psalm 35:13

13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I chastened my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom:

Psalm 35:13 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 35:13

But as for me, when they were sick
Or under any disorder or distress of body or mind, when any misfortune or infirmity attended them; meaning Saul and his courtiers, before David was persecuted by them;

my clothing [was] sackcloth;
that is, he was grieved, and mourned for them, it being usual to put on sackcloth in time of mourning; see ( Genesis 37:34 ) ;

I humbled my soul with fasting;
on the account of them, giving up himself to prayer for them, as follows:

and my prayer returned into mine own bosom;
that is, he prayed privately and heartily for them, as for himself; he was constant in it, his heart was in it, and he took delight in it, and he was heard and answered; unless the sense should be, that his prayer was slighted by them, and so returned back to himself, as a present despised is returned; but however it was not without its effect, the good for which he prayed for them was returned by the Lord unto him.

Psalm 35:13 In-Context

11 Unrighteous witnesses rise up; they lay to my charge things which I know not.

12 They reward me evil for good, [to] the bereavement of my soul.

13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I chastened my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom:

14 I behaved myself as though [he had been] a friend, a brother to me; I bowed down in sadness, as one that mourneth [for] a mother.

15 But at my halting they rejoiced, and gathered together: the slanderers gathered themselves together against me, and I knew [it] not; they did tear [me], and ceased not: