Psalms 35:13

13 But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned unto mine own bosom.

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 False witnesses rose up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.

12 They rewarded me evil for good, to the grieving of my soul.

13 But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned unto mine own bosom.

14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother; I bowed down in heaviness, as one that mourneth for his mother.

15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together; yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they tore at me and ceased not.