Salmi 35

1 Salmo di Davide O SIGNORE, contendi con quelli che contendono meco; Guerreggia con quelli che guerreggiano meco.

2 Prendi lo scudo e la targa; E levati in mio aiuto.

3 E trai fuori la lancia, e serra il passo a quelli che mi perseguitano; Di’ all’anima mia: Io son la tua salute.

4 Sien confusi e svergognati quelli che cercano l’anima mia; Voltin le spalle, e sieno svergognati Quelli che macchinano del male contro a me.

5 Sien come pula al vento, E caccili l’Angelo del Signore.

6 Sia la via loro tutta tenebre, e sdruccioli; E perseguali l’Angelo del Signore.

7 Perciocchè senza cagione hanno fatta una fossa nascosta, Per tendervi la lor rete; Senza cagione l’hanno cavata all’anima mia.

8 Venga loro una sprovveduta ruina, E sieno presi colla lor propria rete che hanno tesa di nascosto, E cadano nella ruina che mi hanno apparecchiata.

9 Allora l’anima mia festeggerà nel Signore, E si rallegrerà nella sua salute.

10 Tutte le ossa mie diranno: O Signore, chi è pari a te, Che riscuoti il povero afflitto da chi è più forte di lui; Il povero afflitto, e il bisognoso, da chi lo spoglia?

11 Falsi testimoni si levano; Mi domandano cose, delle quali non so nulla.

12 Mi rendono male per bene; Rendono sconforto all’anima mia.

13 E pure io, quando essi erano infermi, mi vestiva d’un cilicio. Ed affliggeva l’anima mia col digiuno, E la mia orazione mi ritornava in seno.

14 Io andava attorno, come se fosse stato per un mio amico, ovver fratello; Io andava chino, e vestito a bruno, Come uno che faccia cordoglio di sua madre.

15 Ma quando io son zoppicato, essi se ne son rallegrati, E si sono adunati insieme; Gente da nulla si è adunata contro a me, senza che io lo sapessi; Mi hanno lacerato, senza mai restare;

16 Insieme con profani beffatori giocolari, Digrignando i denti contro di me.

17 O Signore, infino a quando vedrai queste cose? Ritrai l’anima mia dalle ruine loro, L’unica mia d’infra i leoncelli.

18 Io ti celebrerò in gran raunanza; Io ti loderò in mezzo d’un gran popolo.

19 Non rallegrinsi di me quelli che mi son nemici a torto; Non ammicchino con gli occhi quelli che mi odiano senza cagione.

20 Perciocchè non parlano giammai di pace; Anzi macchinano frodi contro a’ pacifici della terra.

21 Ed allargano la lor bocca contro a me, E dicono: Eia, Eia! l’occhio nostro ha pur veduto quello che desideravamo.

22 O Signore, tu hai vedute queste cose; non tacere; O Signore, non allontanarti da me.

23 Risvegliati, e destati, per farmi ragione; Dio mio, e Signor mio, risvegliati per difendere la mia causa.

24 O Signore Iddio mio, giudicami secondo la tua giustizia, E fa’ ch’essi non si rallegrino di me;

25 E non dicano nel cuor loro: Ehi! anima nostra; E non dicano: Noi l’abbiamo trangugiato.

26 Sieno svergognati e confusi tutti quanti Quelli che si rallegrano del mio male; Sieno vestiti di vergogna e di vituperio Quelli che si magnificano contro a me.

27 Cantino, e rallegrinsi Quelli che hanno buona affezione alla mia giustizia; E dicano del continuo: Magnificato sia il Signore, Che vuole la pace del suo servitore.

28 E la mia lingua risonerà la tua giustizia E la tua laude, tuttodì.

Salmi 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.