Psalms 35

LORD, take up my case against those who accuse me. Fight against those who fight against me.

1Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.

NoteThe psalm opens in the language of a lawsuit. "Plead my cause" translates a Hebrew legal term meaning to take up someone's side in a dispute or act as his advocate in court. That courtroom picture runs through the whole psalm (case, witnesses, judgment, verdict) mixed with the picture of a battle.

2Pick up your large shield and your small one, and stand up to help me.

2Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.

Note"Shield" and "buckler" are two different Hebrew words for two different pieces of equipment: a small round shield carried on the arm, and a large one, sometimes nearly body-height, that a soldier could crouch behind. The image is of God arming himself like a warrior.

3Also draw out your spear and block the road against those who chase me. Say to me, "I am the one who saves you."

3Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

NoteThe second Hebrew word in this line is uncertain. It may name another weapon, a javelin or battle-axe, or it may be a verb meaning "close up" or "bar the way," which is how the King James took it. Ancient translators disagreed, and both readings survive.

4May those who are trying to kill me be disgraced and put to shame. May those who plan to hurt me be turned back and thrown into confusion.

4Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.

5Let them be like the husks of grain that blow away in the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them off.

5Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.

Note"Angel" translates a Hebrew word that simply means "messenger." In older Hebrew writing the messenger of the LORD is a figure who speaks and acts on God's behalf, and in some passages fights his battles.

6Let their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD chasing after them.

6Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.

NoteRoads in the hill country were unpaved tracks along slopes and ridges. To be caught on one after dark, in the wet, with someone behind you, was a genuine danger, not just an image.

7For no reason at all they hid a net for me in a pit. For no reason they dug that pit to trap me.

7For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.

NoteThis describes a hunter's trap: a pit dug in the ground, with a net spread over the mouth and hidden, so that an animal walking across it was caught and dropped in at once.

8Let ruin come on him when he is not expecting it. Let the net he hid catch him instead. Let him fall into that very ruin.

8Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.

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

9And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.

10Every bone in my body will say, "LORD, who is like you? You rescue the helpless person from the one who is too strong for him. You rescue the poor and needy from the one who robs them."

10All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?

Note"All my bones shall say" is a Hebrew way of saying "every part of me", the whole person, body included, not just the voice.

11Lying witnesses stood up against me. They accused me of things I knew nothing about.

11False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.

NoteAn Israelite court reached its verdict from the testimony of witnesses; there were no investigators to check their story. A pair of witnesses willing to lie could therefore destroy a man, which is why false testimony is treated so seriously throughout the Hebrew scriptures.

12They pay me back with evil for the good I did, and I am left empty and grieving.

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

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "the spoiling of my soul" normally means the loss of a child. It is used here for a loss that leaves a person stripped and bereaved; translators render it variously, since its exact force in this line is unclear.

13But when they were sick, I wore rough cloth to show my sorrow. I went without food to make myself humble. And my prayer came back to me unanswered.

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

NoteSackcloth was coarse, dark cloth woven from goat hair, worn next to the skin as a public sign of grief or distress. Going without food was part of the same practice: mourning or pleading with God was something a person showed on the body, not only felt inwardly. The last line is ambiguous in Hebrew: it may mean the prayer came back unanswered, or that the good he prayed for others returned to him instead.

14I acted as if he were my own friend or brother. I bowed down heavy with grief, the way a man mourns for his mother.

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

NoteMourning for a mother was regarded in this culture as the sharpest grief a person could show. The point is that he grieved for his enemies as hard as anyone grieves at all.

15But when trouble came to me, they were glad, and they gathered together. Low and worthless men I did not even know banded together against me. They tore at me and would not stop.

15But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:

Note"Abjects" is an old English word for the lowest sort of people. The Hebrew word here is obscure: it may mean "smiters" or "attackers," or people of no standing; translators differ.

16Along with godless men who mock at a feast, they ground their teeth at me in anger.

16With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.

NoteThis line is one of the most damaged and disputed in the Psalms. The Hebrew can be read as "godless mockers at a feast," or as jesters who will mock a man for the price of a cake of bread. Grinding or gnashing the teeth was a recognized gesture of open hostility and rage, like baring the teeth.

17Lord, how long will you only watch? Rescue my life from the harm they do. Save my one precious life from these lions.

17Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

Note"My darling" translates a Hebrew word meaning "my only one", a person's life spoken of as the single, irreplaceable thing he owns.

18Then I will give you thanks when your people gather. I will praise you in front of a large crowd.

18I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.

NoteThe "great congregation" is the crowd assembled for worship. Someone rescued after praying publicly was expected to come back and give thanks publicly, in front of the same people who had heard him ask.

19Do not let my enemies gloat over me, since their hatred is undeserved. Do not let those who hate me without cause wink at each other in spite.

19Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

NoteWinking or narrowing the eye was a known signal of shared malice, the look conspirators give each other when a scheme is working.

20For they do not speak about peace. Instead they make up lies against people who live quietly in the land.

20For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.

Note"The quiet in the land" describes people who keep to themselves and cause no trouble; the phrase stresses that the victims have given no provocation at all.

21They open their mouths wide against me and say, "Aha! Aha! We saw it with our own eyes!"

21Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

22You have seen all this, LORD. Do not stay silent. Lord, do not stay far away from me.

22This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.

23Wake up and rise to defend me. Stand up for my case, my God and my Lord.

23Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.

NoteAsking God to "awake" and "stir up" himself is standard language of complaint in the Psalms, the picture of a judge who has to rise from his seat before the case can be heard. It is a demand for action, not a claim about God being asleep.

24Judge me, LORD my God, by your own fairness, and do not let them gloat over me.

24Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.

Note"Judge me" here does not mean "condemn me." In this legal language it means "try my case and declare me in the right", what we would call clearing someone's name.

25Do not let them say to themselves, "Aha, this is just what we wanted." Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up."

25Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.

Note"We have swallowed him up" is a common Hebrew idiom for destroying someone completely, leaving nothing behind, the way the earth or the grave swallows a person.

26May all those who are glad about my trouble be ashamed and confused together. May those who brag that they are better than I am be covered with shame and disgrace.

26Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.

Note"Clothed with shame" is an idiom: disgrace worn where everyone can see it, like a garment, rather than felt privately.

27But let those who want to see me cleared shout for joy and be glad. Let them keep saying, "How great the LORD is. He is pleased when things go well for the one who serves him."

27Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

28And my tongue will tell how right and fair you are, and will praise you all day long.

28And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.