Psalms 35:5-15

5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on!

6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!

7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.

8 Let ruin come upon them unawares! And let the net which they hid ensnare them; let them fall therein to ruin!

9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his deliverance.

10 All my bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like thee, thou who deliverest the weak from him who is too strong for him, the weak and needy from him who despoils him?"

11 Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I know not.

12 They requite me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.

13 But I, when they were sick--I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,

14 as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; I went about as one who laments his mother, bowed down and in mourning.

15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me; cripples whom I knew not slandered me without ceasing;

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.