Tehillim 35:12

12 They repay me ra’ah for tovah to the forlornness of my nefesh.

Tehillim 35:12 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 35:12

They rewarded me evil for good
For the good David did in killing Goliath, and slaying his ten thousands of the Philistines, and thereby saving his king and country, Saul and his courtiers envied him, and sought to slay him: so our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the good he did to the Jews, by healing their bodies of diseases, and preaching the Gospel to them for the benefit of their souls, was rewarded with reproaches and persecutions, and at last with the shameful death of the cross; and in like manner are his people used; but this is an evil that shall not go unpunished; see ( Proverbs 17:13 ) . It is added,

[to] the spoiling of my soul;
or "to the bereaving of it" ^F20; causing it to be fatherless; that is, to the bereaving it of its joy, peace, and comfort; so fatherless is put for comfortless, ( John 14:18 ) ; or to the taking away of his soul, which being separated from the body, its companion is left alone, as one that is fatherless.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (lwkv) "orbitatem", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.

Tehillim 35:12 In-Context

10 All my atzmot shall say, Hashem, mi khamocha (who is like Thee), Who deliverest the oni (poor) from him that is too strong for him, yes, the oni and the evyon (needy) from him that despoileth him?

11 Edei chamas (witnesses of violence, false witnesses) rise up; they lay to my charge things, questioning me of that which I have no da’as.

12 They repay me ra’ah for tovah to the forlornness of my nefesh.

13 But as for me, when they were choleh (ill), my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my nefesh with tzom (fasting); and my tefillah (prayer) turned back on mine own kheyk (bosom).

14 I went about as though he had been my re’a or ach; I bowed in sadness, as one that mourneth for his em.