Psalms 35:13

13 Yet when they were sick, I put on clothes of sadness and showed my sorrow by going without food. But my prayers were not answered.

Psalms 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.

Psalms 35:13 In-Context

11 Men without mercy stand up to testify. They ask me things I do not know.

12 They repay me with evil for the good I have done, and they make me very sad.

13 Yet when they were sick, I put on clothes of sadness and showed my sorrow by going without food. But my prayers were not answered.

14 I acted as if they were my friends or brothers. I bowed in sadness as if I were crying for my mother.

15 But when I was in trouble, they gathered and laughed; they gathered to attack before I knew it. They insulted me without stopping.