Psalms 35:5-15

5 Let them be like straw blowing in the wind, while the angel of the LORD drives them away.

6 Let their path be dark and slippery, while the angel of the LORD chases them.

7 They set a trap for me without any reason. Without any reason they dug a pit to catch me.

8 So let them be destroyed without warning. Let the trap they set for me catch them. Let them fall into the pit and be destroyed.

9 Then I will be full of joy because of what the LORD has done. I will be glad because he has saved me.

10 My whole being will cry out, "Who is like you, Lord? You save poor people from those who are too strong for them. You save poor and needy people from those who rob them."

11 Mean people come forward to give witness against me. They ask me things I don't know anything about.

12 They pay me back with evil, even though I was good to them. They leave me without hope.

13 But when they were sick, I put on black clothes. I made myself low by going without food. My prayers for them weren't always answered.

14 So I went around crying as if I were crying over my friend or relative. I bowed my head in sadness as if I were sobbing over my mother.

15 But when I tripped and fell, they were all very happy. Attackers gathered against me when I didn't even know it. They kept on telling lies about me.

Psalms 35:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

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.