11Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
12They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.
13But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.
14I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.
15But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
16Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me.
11 Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
12 They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.
15 But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
16 Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me.
KJVKing James Version
11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling 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 into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, 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 did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
11 Unrighteous witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I know not.
12 They repay me evil for good; bereavement is come to my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, I afflicted my soul with fasting; and my prayer, may it return into mine own bosom.
14 I went about as though it had been my friend or my brother; I bowed down mournful, as one that mourneth for his mother.
15 But when I halt they rejoice, and gather themselves together; the abjects gather themselves together against me, and those whom I know not; they tear me, and cease not;
16 With the profanest mockeries of backbiting they gnash at me with their teeth.
Psalms 69:10-11(v13)When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
John 10:32(v12)Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
Jeremiah 18:20(v12)Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn…
Job 30:25(v13)Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
Psalms 27:12(v11)Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.
Show all 61 cross-references
Psalms 38:20(v12)They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me, because I follow what is good.
Proverbs 17:13(v12)Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
Lamentations 2:16(v16)All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly…
Matthew 5:44(v13)But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and…
Luke 23:21-23(v12)but they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify him!” He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no…
Job 16:9(vv15–16)He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
Psalms 37:12(v16)The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.
Psalms 109:3-5(v12)They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my adversaries;…
Leviticus 16:31(v13)It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.
1 Samuel 20:31-33(v12)For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to…
Isaiah 58:5(v13)Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth…
Matthew 10:13(v13)If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn’t worthy, let your peace return to you.
Matthew 26:59-60(v11)Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death; and they…
Mark 14:65(v15)Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists, and to tell him, “Prophesy!” The officers struck him with the…
Luke 19:41-42(v14)When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But…
Genesis 24:67(v14)Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his…
1 Samuel 19:4-5(v12)Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he…
1 Samuel 19:15(v12)Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”
1 Samuel 22:13-14(v12)Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have…
1 Samuel 24:9(v11)David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you?’
2 Samuel 1:11-12(v14)Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them; and all the men who were with him did likewise. They mourned, wept, and fasted until…
Psalms 7:2(v15)lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.
Psalms 71:10-11(v15)For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together, saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one…
Jeremiah 20:10(v15)For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who…
Matthew 27:27-30(v15)Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered the whole garrison together against him. They stripped him, and…
Matthew 27:39-44(v15)Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save…
Luke 10:6(v13)If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
John 18:28(v16)They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they…
Acts 6:13(v11)and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
Acts 7:54(v16)Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
Romans 12:14-15(v13)Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
Leviticus 16:29(v13)“It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no…
1 Samuel 20:24-42(v16)So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon had come, the king sat himself down to eat food. The king sat on his seat, as at other…
1 Samuel 25:10(v11)Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their…
2 Samuel 1:17-27(v14)David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son (and he commanded them to teach the children of Judah the song of…
1 Kings 21:27-29(v13)When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.…
Job 30:1-12(v15)“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs. Of what use is…
Job 31:29(v15)“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him
Psalms 22:16(v15)For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
Psalms 35:8(v15)Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction.
Psalms 35:25-26(v15)Don’t let them say in their heart, “Aha! That’s the way we want it!” Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up!” Let them be…
Psalms 38:6(v14)I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.
Psalms 38:17(v15)For I am ready to fall. My pain is continually before me.
Psalms 41:8(v15)“An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”
Psalms 57:4(v15)My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a…
Psalms 69:12(v15)Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
Proverbs 17:5(v15)Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
Proverbs 24:17-18(v15)Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls. Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown, lest Yahweh see it, and it displease him, and he…
Isaiah 1:14-15(v16)My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your…
Isaiah 58:3(v13)‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast…
Acts 17:5(v15)But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the…
Acts 24:5-6(v11)For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the…
Acts 24:12-13(v11)In the temple they didn’t find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the synagogues, or in the city. Nor can they…
1 Corinthians 5:8(v16)Therefore let’s keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of…
1 Corinthians 13:6(v15)doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
Matthew 9:14-15(v13)Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?” Jesus said to them,…
61 distinct cross-references across this passage (62 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv11, 12, 15, 1611. Violent witnesses “עדי חמס witnesses of wrong or…
11. Violent witnesses “עדי חמס witnesses of wrong or violence; i.e., witnesses deponing to acts of violence, as committed by the person accused. See Psalm 27:12.” — Horsley.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv11, 12, 13, 15, 16That would not suffer me to purge myself.
That would not suffer me to purge myself.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv11–16Psa 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid…
Psa 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not.
Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up] So they did afterward against the Lord Christ and sundry of his faithful servants, as St Paul, Athanasius, Eustathius, bishop of Antioch (falsely accused of adultery, and deposed, about the end of Constantine the Great’s reign), Cranmer, charged with adultery, heresy, and treason; Philpot, with parricide; Latimer, with sedition; whereof he was so innocent, that he feared not to say in a sermon before the king, As for sedition, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I may so say.
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They laid to my charge things that I knew not] Such as whereof I was not only innocent, but ignorant also. The Hebrew is, They asked me, and so would have, by cunningly contrived questions, made me mine own accuser.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv11–16They accused me to Saul of treachery and designs…
They accused me to Saul of treachery and designs against his crown and life, and other crimes whereof I was wholly innocent and ignorant.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v11Two very wicked things David here lays to the…
Two very wicked things David here lays to the charge of his enemies, to make good his appeal to God against them - perjury and ingratitude.
I. Perjury, Psa 35:11. When Saul would have David attainted of treason, in order to his being outlawed, perhaps he did it with the formalities of a legal prosecution, produced witnesses who swore some treasonable words or overt acts against him, and he being not present to clear himself (or, if he was, it was all the same), Saul adjudged him a traitor. This he complains of here as the highest piece of injustice imaginable: False witnesses did rise up, who would swear anything; they laid to my charge things that I knew not, nor ever thought of. See how much the honours, estates, liberties, and lives, even of the best men, lie at the mercy of the worst, against whose false oaths innocency itself is no fence; and what reason we have to acknowledge with thankfulness the hold God has of the consciences even of bad men, to which it is owing that there is not more mischief done in that way than is. This instance of the wrong done to David was typical, and had its accomplishment in the Son of David, against whom false witnesses did arise, Mat 26:60. If we be at any time charged with what we are innocent of let us not think it strange, as though some new thing happened to us; so persecuted they the prophets, even the great prophet.
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II. Ingratitude. Call a man ungrateful and you can call him no worse. This was the character of David's enemies (Psa 35:12): They rewarded me evil for good. A great deal of good service he had done to his king, witness his harp, witness Goliath's sword, witness the foreskins of the Philistines; and yet his king vowed his death, and his country was made too hot for him. This is to the spoiling of his soul; this base unkind usage robs him of his comfort, and cuts him to the heart, more than any thing else. Nay, he had deserved well not only of the public in general, but of those particular persons that were now most bitter against him. Probably it was then well known whom he meant; it may be Saul himself for one, whom he was sent for to attend upon when he was melancholy and ill, and to whom he was serviceable to drive away the evil spirit, not with his harp, but with his prayers; to others of the courtiers, it is likely, he had shown this respect, while he lived at court, who now were, of all others, most abusive to him. Herein he was a type of Christ, to whom this wicked world was very ungrateful. Joh 10:32. Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those do you stone me? David here shows,
1. How tenderly, and with what a cordial affection, he had behaved towards them in their afflictions (Psa 35:13, Psa 35:14): They were sick. Note, Even the palaces and courts of princes are not exempt from the jurisdiction of death and the visitation of sickness. Now when these people were sick, (1.) David mourned for them and sympathized with them in their grief. They were not related to him; he was under no obligations to them; he would lose nothing by their death, but perhaps be a gainer by it; and yet he behaved himself as though they had been his nearest relations, purely from a principle of compassion and humanity. David was a man of war, and of a bold stout spirit, and yet was thus susceptible of the impressions of sympathy, forgot the bravery of the hero, and seemed wholly made up of love and pity; it was a rare composition of hardiness and tenderness, courage and compassion, in the same breast. Observe, He mourned as for a brother or mother, which intimates that it is our duty, and well becomes us, to lay to heart the sickness, and sorrow, and death of our near relations. Those that do not are justly stigmatized as without natural affection. (2.) He prayed for them. He discovered not only the tender affection of a man, but the pious affection of a saint. He was concerned for their precious souls, and, since he helped them with his prayers to God for mercy and grace; and the prayers of one who had so great an interest in heaven were of more value than perhaps they knew or considered. With his prayers he joined humiliation and self-affliction, both in his diet (he fasted, at least from pleasant bread) and in his dress; he clothed himself with sackcloth, thus expressing his grief, not only for their affliction, but for their sin; for this was the guise and practice of a penitent. We ought to mourn for the sins of those that do not mourn for them themselves. His fasting also put an edge upon his praying, and was an expression of the fervour of it; he was so intent in his devotions that he had no appetite to meat, nor would allow himself time for eating: "My prayer returned into my own bosom; I had the comfort of having done my duty, and of having approved myself a loving neighbour, though I could not thereby win upon them nor make them my friends." We shall not lose by the good offices we have done to any, how ungrateful soever they are; for our rejoicing will be this, the testimony of our conscience.
2. How basely and insolently and with what a brutish enmity, and worse than brutish, they had behaved towards him (Psa 35:15, Psa 35:16); In my adversity they rejoiced. When he fell under the frowns of Saul, was banished the court, and persecuted as a criminal, they were pleased, were glad at his calamities, and got together in their drunken clubs to make themselves and one another merry with the disgrace of this great favourite. Well, might he call them abjects, for nothing could be more vile and sordid than to triumph in the fall of a man of such unstained honour and consummate virtue. But this was not all. (1.) They tore him, rent his good name without mercy, said all the ill they could of him and fastened upon him all the reproach their cursed wit and malice could reach to. (2.) They gnashed upon him with their teeth; they never spoke of him but with the greatest indignation imaginable, as those that would have eaten him up if they could. David was the fool in the play, and his disappointment all the table-talk of the hypocritical mockers at feasts; it was the song of the drunkards. The comedians, who may fitly be called hypocritical mockers (for which does a hypocrite signify but a stage-player?) and whose comedies, it is likely, were acted at feasts and balls, chose David for their subject, bantered and abused him, while the auditory, in token of their agreement with the plot, hummed, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. Such has often been the hard fate of the best of men. The apostles were made a spectacle to the world. David was looked upon with ill-will for no other reason than because he was caressed by the people. It is a vexation of spirit which attends even a right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbour, Ecc 4:4. And who can stand before envy? Pro 27:4.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv11–16False witnesses did rise up,.... Against David, saying he…
False witnesses did rise up,.... Against David, saying he sought the hurt of Saul, Sa1 24:9, as did against David's antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, Mat 26:59; and against his apostles, Act 24:5; and very frequently do they rise up and bear false witness against his people, which is a very heinous crime;
they laid to my charge things that I knew not: such as David was not conscious of, never thought of doing, much less attempted to do; as the taking away of Saul's life, the contrary of which appeared by his cutting off his skirt only when he was in his hands, and taking away his spear from his bolster when he could have taken off his head; and such were the things laid to the charge of the Messiah, David's son, who knew no sin, nor did any; and the like are exhibited against his members, who go through good report and bad report, and whose good conversation is falsely accused by malicious men.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv13, 15, 16Returned - Although my fastings and prayers did them…
Returned - Although my fastings and prayers did them no good.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv11–16Verse 11. False witnesses did rise up] There is…
Verse 11. False witnesses did rise up] There is no doubt that several of this kind were found to depose against the life of David; and we know that the wicked Jews employed such against the life of Christ. See Mt 26:59-60.
They laid to my charge things that I knew not.] They produced the most unfounded charges; things of which I had never before heard.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv11, 13, 14, 15Psa 35:11-12. They laid to my charge things I…
Psa 35:11-12. They laid to my charge things I knew not — They accused me to Saul of treacherous designs against his crown and life, and of other crimes of which I was wholly innocent and ignorant. They rewarded me evil for good — For the good offices which I performed to divers of them when I had favour and power in Saul’s court and camp. To the spoiling of my soul — That is, to the stripping of my person of all my comforts and hopes, and of my life itself. This interpretation of the passage, the reader will observe, is given according to the present translation. But the Hebrew verbs, יקומו, ישׁאלו, ישׁלמו, jeshallemu, jishalu, jekumu, are all in the future tense, and the clauses are more properly rendered, False witnesses will rise up, &c.; They will lay to my charge, &c.; They will reward me, &c., which seems to intimate that the prophet was speaking of what was then future, and in the person of him against whom false witnesses did arise, to whose charge they laid things he knew not, and whom they rewarded evil for good; “who, because our souls were sick, clothed himself with the sackcloth of our flesh; mourning at the very thought that his prayers, in any measure, should return into his own bosom.” See Fenwick.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv11–16False witnesses did rise up - Margin, “witnesses of…
False witnesses did rise up - Margin, “witnesses of wrong.” The Hebrew is, “witnesses of “violence,”” חמס châmâs. That is, they were persons who, in what they said of me, were guilty of injustice and wrong. Their conduct was injurious to me as an act of “violence” would be.
They laid to my charge - Margin, as in Hebrew: “they asked me.” The word “asked” here seems to be used in the sense of “demand;” that is, they demanded an “answer” to what was said. The usage appears to have been derived from courts, where the forms of trial may have been in the way of question and answer - the mode of accusation having been in the form of “asking” how a thing was, or whether it was so; and the defense being regarded as an “answer” to such an inquiry. Hence, it is synonymous with our expression of laying to the charge of anyone; or of accusing anyone.
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Things that I knew not - Of which I had no knowledge; which never came into my mind. What those charges were the psalmist does not specify; but it is not uncommon for a good man to be falsely accused, and we are certain that such things occurred in the life of David.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv11–16False witnesses--literally, "Witnesses of injustice and cruelty" (compare Psa…
False witnesses--literally, "Witnesses of injustice and cruelty" (compare Psa 11:5; Psa 25:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv11–1611. The second division of the psalm opens with…
11. The second division of the psalm opens with unalleviated complaint, in a comparison of his own conduct with that of his enemies.
False witnesses—Violent witnesses. They vehemently accuse him. The scene is changed from a battle to a court. Laid to my charge, etc.—They made legal inquiry of things of which he was ignorant. Though the tenses are future, the present and the past are evidently intended, and it would seem as a reminiscence of experience while in the court of Saul. Compare with this the trial of Jesus. Such must ever be the method of procedure where the court and the witnesses are pre-determined to reward evil for good, and condemn the accused.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv11–1611. False witnesses] Rather, unrighteous, or, malicious, witnesses rise…
11. False witnesses] Rather, unrighteous, or, malicious, witnesses rise up; lit., witnesses of violence, as in Exo_23:1; Deu_19:16. Cp. Psa_27:12 (A.V. cruelty).
they laid to my charge &c.] R.V. they ask of me things that I know not: calling me to account for crimes, of which I have not even any knowledge. Cp. Psa_69:4. The phraseology is that of a court; not that the Psalmist is to be thought of as actually put upon his trial. David was falsely and maliciously accused of treason and conspiracy against the king’s life (1Sa_24:9). Cp. Mat_26:59 ff.
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11–18. The causelessness of the Psalmist’s persecution and the ingratitude of his persecutors are urged as reasons for God’s interference on his behalf.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv12–16(12) To the spoiling of my soul.—Literally, desolation to…
(12) To the spoiling of my soul.—Literally, desolation to my soul. We may paraphrase,
“They rewarded me evil for good,
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Which to me was desolation.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv11–16Vers. 11-18. The second part of the psalm begins…
Vers. 11-18. The second part of the psalm begins with a long complaint, David sets forth the woes under which he is suffering. There are:
1. Calumny (ver. 11).
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2. Ingratitude (vers. 12-14).
3. Malevolence (ver. 15).
4. Insult from the vile and base (ver. 16).
He then passes to prayer: Will not God rescue him (ver. 17)? In conclusion, he for the second time promises praise and thanks (ver. 18).
Vers. 11-18. The wicked and the good.
The general subject in this section of the psalm is a contrast between the wicked and the good, setting forth the baseness of the wicked nature, and the generous sympathies of the good.
I THE BASENESS OF THE WICKED. Their general characteristics are:
1. They often bring false malicious charges against good men. (Ver. 11) "They demand satisfaction at my hands for injuries of which I have never even heard.
2. They return evil for good. (Ver. 12) They had been former friends: this was the sting of their ingratitude and injustice. Former favours sour the minds of the ungrateful, and intensify their hatred.
3. They exult over the calamities of the good, and insult and injure them. (Ver. 15) "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," and cruelty always embrutes the bad mind.
4. They incite the senseless rabble to persecute good men. (Ver. 16) The multitude ever ready without reason to join in a hue and cry, and, without thinking, are ready to become the instruments of bad men.
II THE NOBILITY OF THE GOOD.
1. Broken friendships fill them with a sense of bereavement. (Ver. 12) The good hunger for love, as well as give it; and, when denied it, are afflicted with a sense of loneliness.
2. They are deeply sympathetic with the afflictions of others. (Vers. 13, 14) They fast and pray in token of the sincerity and depth of their sympathy.
3. In the calamities and sorrows of life the good turn to God for help and deliverance. (Ver. 17) Especially the more they feel deserted by former friends.
4. They are constrained to give thanks to God for his mercies. (Ver. 18) They are not ungrateful, like the wicked. Gratitude is a joy to the generous and religious mind. S. False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I know not; (comp. Psa_27:12) literally, malicious, or unrighteous witnesses. (see Exo_23:1) It is not probable that witnesses in a court are intended. David"s calumniators accused him privately to Saul of "seeking his hurt", (1Sa_24:9) and so stirred Saul up against him. (1Sa_26:19) By what is here said, they appear to have accused him to his face, and to have endeavoured to extort from him a confession of guilt.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv11–16Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up. This is…
Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up. This is the old device of the ungodly, and we must not wonder if it be used against us as against our Master. To please Saul, there were always men to be found mean enough to impeach David. They laid to my charge things that I knew not. He had not even a though of sedition; he was loyal even to excess; yet they accused him of conspiring against the Lord's anointed. He was not only innocent, but ignorant of the fault alleged. It is well when our hands are so clean that no trace of dirt is upon them.
Ver. 11. They laid to my charge things that I knew not. You will say, Why does God permit wicked people to lay to the charge of the godly such things as they are clear of: God if he pleased could prevent it, and stop the mouths of the wicked, that they should not be able to speak against his children? Answer--As all things work for the best to them that love God, so this works for the good of God's people. God doth permit it for the good of his people, and thus he frustrates the hopes of the wicked: they intend evil against the godly, and God disposes of it for good. As Joseph said to his brethren, "You intended evil against me, and God disposed of it for good; "so we may say to such as falsely slander God's people, You intended evil against the people of God, but God disposes of it for good. There is fivefold good that God brings out of it to his people.
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First, God doth by this means humble them, and brings them to examine what is amiss: so that though they be clear of that crime laid to their charge, yet they will then examine whether there be nothing else amiss betwixt God and them; they will search their hearts, and walk more humbly, and cleave more close to the Lord.
Secondly, God doth by this means bring them oftener upon their knees, to seek unto him, to plead their cause, and to clear their innocency. How oft did the prophet speak unto God when the wicked did falsely accuse him; how did he make his moan at the throne of grace unto God, beseeching him to plead his cause, and to keep him close in his way, that the wicked might not rejoice at his downfall! So when God's people see that it is that which the wicked would have, that which is their joy, to see the godly fall into such and such a sin; then the godly will pray more earnestly with David, Lord, lead me in a right path because of my observers; then they will be earnest with God to keep them from falling into that sin that the wicked desire they might fall into; and this is a second good that comes of it.
Thirdly, God doth us the reproach of the wicked as a preventing medicine against that crime which the wicked lay to their charge. The godly have unrenewed nature as well as renewed, and if God should leave them never so little to themselves, they are not their own keepers, they might fall into that sin which the wicked lay to their charge: and every godly man and woman may say when they are falsely accused, It is God's mercy that I did not fall into that sin they lay to my charge. God doth use wicked people's tongues as a warning against such a sin, that when they see how the wicked joy at a brat of their own hatching, then they consider, if the wicked thus joy without a cause, what would they do if they had just cause? Well, by the help of God this shall be a warning to me for ever to watch against that sin: for the time to come I will pray more against that particular sin than I have done, and watch more against that sin than I have done; through God's help they shall never have occasion to rejoice over me in that kind. Truly, I verily believe many a child of God can say by experience, I never should have prayed and watched against such a sin so much, had not God used the tongues of the wicked as preventing physic: I know not my own heart, but that I might have fallen into such and such a sin had not God by this means hedged up my way with thorns; and this is the third good comes of it.
Fourthly, God doth by this means exercise the graces of his people by letting them undergo bad report as well as good report: he tries whether they will cleave close to him in all conditions, as Ps 94:15-17.
Fifthly, God doth by this means teach them how to judge of others when they are falsely accused. For the time to come they will not receive a false report against their neighbour; they will know the truth of a thing before they believe it, and they know how to comfort others in the like condition; and thus God disposes of it for good, and thus God makes the wicked the servant of his people in that very thing which the wicked think to wrong them most in; for he uses the wicked as the rod and wisp, to scour off the rust of their graces and to correct their security; and when the rod hath done its office then it is thrown into the fire; and thus you see how God disposes of the wicked's false accusations of his people for good. Zephaniah Smyth's Sermon, "The Malignant's Plot", 1647.
Ver. 11. The meanness, cruelty, sinfulness, and commonness of slander.
Psalms 35:12*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv13–14I humbled my soul with fasting.
Psa_35:13
I humbled my soul with fasting.
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The duty of fasting
So said David. All Gods faithful children, under every dispensation, have observed the same rule. So must each one now say, who hopes for the highest degree of blessedness hereafter. Can none, then, be saved without fasting? I have heard people sometimes ask. This question might be answered by another: Can any be saved without praying? The same authority has commanded the observance of both. But fasting is an unpleasant duty; and those who wish to escape from it, while they readily grant that it was practised by the Jews, deny that it is binding upon Christians. Did not our Lord fast forty days and forty nights, thus setting us an example of subduing the flesh to the Spirit, that in this way His godly monitions may be more perfectly obeyed? Do not the apostles tell us that they were in fastings often? Do they not enjoin it upon Christians to give themselves to fasting and prayer? This may all be true, answers an objector, but why not leave it to each one to discharge this duty when he feels disposed, and why celebrate the fast of Lent, which sprung Up, perhaps, during the dark ages of the world? In reply to the first question, I would merely say that if we wait until we feel in a humour to fast, we shall never fast at all. Hence the wisdom of the Church in appointing stated seasons (or it, when we are bound to attend to it, or prove ourselves unworthy and disobedient children. Our Saviour said to His disciples (Mat_9:15). And from the earliest ages of the Church directions concerning this observance are found. But while it is expected of all to keep the fasts of the Church, all cannot observe them alike. The sick, or such as are just recovering their health, may not be able, perhaps, to abstain from food; and they who are obliged to toil hard for their daily bread, require more to sustain their strength than those whose lives are less active. But all should deny themselves in some way. (John H. Norton.)
My prayer returned into mine own bosom.--
The benefits of prayer
The ancient garments were loose and flowing, and fell in a hollow fold upon the bosom; into which fold were often put articles of use, or value, for the convenience of carriage; and especially when presents were made, they were frequently deposited there. By his prayer returning into his own bosom, therefore, David meant, that though it failed to bring the desired benefit to those for whom it was delivered, it should turn to his own recompense and advantage. Such is the case, more or less, with all the acts of kindness rendered to our neighbour; they conduce not only to his benefit but our own. Ye who take delight in the well-being of others, and make it a business in your life to minister thereto, know well the value of this grace to your own hearts; it is a perpetual source of consolation and satisfaction. And even if you fail in pleasing those whom you seek to please, or in benefiting those whom you seek to benefit; still the good to yourself is not lost; there is joy in the endeavour, independent of the result. The pious act to which the text alludes was the fruit of love, of the most disinterested and holy affection. David was surrounded with bitter and violent enemies, who daily sought his life; and the manner in which he expresses himself respecting them reminds us strongly of Davids Lord. He lifted up his heart in supplication to the mercy-seat; he did all that in him lay. But his prayer was not granted, as neither was the prayer of Jesus for the reckless Jew. From this remarkable instance before us, I am led to speak of the value of intercessory prayer, of prayer for our brethren, and for all our fellow-creatures. God has ordained it (1Ti_2:1). We know not what may be dependent upon our prayers. What good they may bring to them for whom we pray. And assuredly they bring much good to us.
I. The prayer for superiors of every kind begets in us that spirit of obedience, which God has commanded, and which God will bless.
II. Children pray for parents. Who can tell the benefits which they themselves derive from this duty? On the other hand, the parent prays for the child. The child is wayward and wanton: the parent prays for correction and amendment; but they do not always come. But the supplication is not without its fruit, in blessed peace of mind from knowing that he has done his best: that his child was not ruined by his neglect to pray for him. And so--
III. for all relatives. The principle of mutual love is kept alive thereby.
IV. But perhaps the most observable instance of all is that wherewith the text is connected, the supplication for enemies. This is a peculiar exercise of faith: this requires a greater struggle in the inner man, to obtain the mastery over our own self-love; and to make us desire with godly sincerity the good of those who have injured us, and to entreat the Lord for it, as for our own favour and blessing. This is indeed a victory of the Spirit of grace; and the Lord honours it with a signal reward, and makes it productive of vast benefit to our souls. Such was the Lords own example. Let us also herein follow our Lord. (J. Slade, M. A.)
The remunerative power of charity
The psalmist is speaking of the ungrateful returns which he received from his enemies for many acts of kindness. When they were in trouble and sickness, he did not fail to intercede with God on their behalf: he prayed for them, and put on sackcloth, and fasted; whereas, he goes on to say, in mine adversity they rejoiced, etc. Were, then, his prayers all thrown away? Not so; he was persuaded that they would return into his own bosom; that the prayers, that is, which should be fruitless in regard to those for whom they were presented, should certainly produce good to him by whom they had been offered. Now, we do not think that sufficient attention is paid to the various modes in which what is done for others, returns, as it were, to the doer, gust as though God regarded it as a loan, and would not permit it to remain long in his hands--for we hardly know the philanthropic deed in regard of which we may not prove the high probability, if not the certainty, that he who performs it gains an abundant requital, even if you suppose him not moved by the purest motive, or not bringing into account the recompenses of eternity. The interests of the several classes in a community, nay, of the various members of the vast human family, are so bound up one with the other, that it is scarcely possible for an individual benefit to fail to be a general; and if the good which is wrought in an isolated quarter cannot remain there, but must propagate itself over wide districts, we may easily believe that God, who orders and appoints all things so that they work His own ends, causes much of this reflected good to fall on the party with whom it originated; and thus he who fasted and humbled himself in sackcloth finds that his prayer hath returned into his own bosom. If I support infirmaries for children, I take the best means of preventing our being hereafter burdened with sickly and dependent families; disease is corrected, and the injuries are repaired in childhood which entail on us, if neglected, a crowd of miserable objects; and what I give to the pining infant I more than receive back from the vigorous man. If I support hospitals for the reception of those who must otherwise perish unregarded, what do I but take measures to continue to his family the industrious father, on whom it hangs for subsistence, and whose death would make it a pensioner on benevolence? Then surely what I give will, in all probability, return into mine own bosom, if it prove instrumental in preserving a useful member to the community, and prevent fresh demands upon charity. Neither does this take into account what ought not to be omitted--that there is a direct tendency in hospitals and infirmaries to the nourishing in the poor kindly feelings towards the rich; and he can know little of the mutual dependence of the several ranks in society, who does not know that money employed on the procuring this result is money at interest, and not money sunk. But let us now consider more particularly the ease in which the motive to benevolence is such as God approves--man acting from a principle of love to the Saviour, who has declared that He counts as done to Himself what is done for His sake to the least of His brethren. We believe that even in the present life the remunerating power will have a greater sphere of exercise in this case than in any other. It is to be observed, that though a Christian will be ready, with St. Paul, to do good unto all men, he will study with the same apostle to do good, especially to those that are of the household of faith; and if his charities bring him mostly into association with those who are serving the same Lord, and if, though he neglect not the temporal, he is chiefly instrumental in supplying the spiritual wants of the destitute, it is very evident that there will be that returned to him in the prayers and blessings of those whom he succours, which there would not be if the objects of his benevolence were all at enmity with God. But if we may contend that what we have called the remunerating power of charity is already in operation, who can doubt that hereafter, when we reach the time and scene, which are specially appointed for the Divine retributions, it will be proved to the letter that our gifts and our deeds have returned into our own bosoms. When we read that even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shell not lose its reward, we are taught that God takes account of the minutest acts of Christian benevolence, and designs them a recompense, so that as not even the least can escape His observation, not even the least shall be without retribution. He annexes rewards to our actions to show His graciousness, and to animate to obedience; and, with this as the base, He may justly be expected to leave no service unrequited, and yet at the same time to requite in proportion to the action. But with all the reasons there may be for expecting the most exact retributions, who can doubt that the righteous will hereafter be amazed and overcome, as the strict connection is shown them between what they did and what they enjoy? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v11The Hypocrisy and Malice of the Wicked
The Hypocrisy and Malice of the Wicked
v. 11. False witnesses, literally, "witnesses of violence," did rise up, with unjust accusations; they laid to my charge things that I knew not, of which he knew himself to be innocent.
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v. 12. They rewarded me evil for good, which he, on his part, was trying to show them, to the spoiling of my soul, to make his soul bereaved, to make him friendless, to isolate him.
v. 13. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, in sympathetic mourning for their trouble; I humbled my soul with fasting, in making their sorrow his own; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom, for he was bowed forward so far, with his head lowered, that his voice sounded against his own bosom. Thus he had entreated for his enemies in the greatest earnestness and humility.
v. 14. I behaved myself as though he, the enemy in distress, had been my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, in dust and ashes, so that he appeared squalid and dirty, as one that mourneth for his mother, in the very deepest grief.
v. 15. But in mine adversity, his halting, lameness, said of any deep distress, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together, to witness the spectacle of his great trouble; yea, the abjects, contemptible, degraded persons, gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not, people of whom he had till then not even taken notice; they did tear me and ceased not, attacked him with scorn and laughter, and were not silent;
v. 16. with hypocritical mockers in feasts, those who love to make sport of a poor sufferer by cracking biting jokes at his expense, they gnashed upon me with their teeth, in a gesture of sneering contempt, probably also with stammering of distorted things.
v. 17. Lord, how long wilt Thou look on? namely, without doing something to effect deliverance for him. Rescue my soul from their destruction, my darling, literally, "my only one," from the lions, from the wild and ravenous people who were treating him so contemptuously.
v. 18. I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation, paying his vows of thanksgiving with all the other believers; I will praise Thee among much people, people. of numbers and might. The congregation of believers may seem small and weak in the eyes of the world, but before the Lord and in His might they are invincible.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv11, 13, 15rise up
rise up
This means they testify in a trial. AT: "volunteer to give a testimony" (See: Idiom)
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They repay me evil for good
This is a metaphor which means they give back evil in exchange for the good they have received. AT: "In return for my doing good things for them, they do evil things to me" (See: Metaphor)
evil ... good
These abstract nouns can be stated in other forms. AT: "evil things ... good things" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv11, 1635:11-18 The psalmist presents the Lord with the reasons…
35:11-18 The psalmist presents the Lord with the reasons for his suffering. Evil has many faces. He is tired and worn out, and he knows that only the Lord can help him.
35:11 Malicious witnesses want nothing but violence (see 11:4-6; 54:3).
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 15, 16 11. Violent witnesses “עדי חמס witnesses of wrong or…
11. Violent witnesses “עדי חמס witnesses of wrong or violence; i.e., witnesses deponing to acts of violence, as committed by the person accused. See Psalm 27:12.” — Horsley.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 15, 16 That would not suffer me to purge myself.
That would not suffer me to purge myself.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–16 Psa 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid…
Psa 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not.
Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up] So they did afterward against the Lord Christ and sundry of his faithful servants, as St Paul, Athanasius, Eustathius, bishop of Antioch (falsely accused of adultery, and deposed, about the end of Constantine the Great’s reign), Cranmer, charged with adultery, heresy, and treason; Philpot, with parricide; Latimer, with sedition; whereof he was so innocent, that he feared not to say in a sermon before the king, As for sedition, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I may so say.
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They laid to my charge things that I knew not] Such as whereof I was not only innocent, but ignorant also. The Hebrew is, They asked me, and so would have, by cunningly contrived questions, made me mine own accuser.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–16 They accused me to Saul of treachery and designs…
They accused me to Saul of treachery and designs against his crown and life, and other crimes whereof I was wholly innocent and ignorant.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v11 Two very wicked things David here lays to the…
Two very wicked things David here lays to the charge of his enemies, to make good his appeal to God against them - perjury and ingratitude.
I. Perjury, Psa 35:11. When Saul would have David attainted of treason, in order to his being outlawed, perhaps he did it with the formalities of a legal prosecution, produced witnesses who swore some treasonable words or overt acts against him, and he being not present to clear himself (or, if he was, it was all the same), Saul adjudged him a traitor. This he complains of here as the highest piece of injustice imaginable: False witnesses did rise up, who would swear anything; they laid to my charge things that I knew not, nor ever thought of. See how much the honours, estates, liberties, and lives, even of the best men, lie at the mercy of the worst, against whose false oaths innocency itself is no fence; and what reason we have to acknowledge with thankfulness the hold God has of the consciences even of bad men, to which it is owing that there is not more mischief done in that way than is. This instance of the wrong done to David was typical, and had its accomplishment in the Son of David, against whom false witnesses did arise, Mat 26:60. If we be at any time charged with what we are innocent of let us not think it strange, as though some new thing happened to us; so persecuted they the prophets, even the great prophet.
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II. Ingratitude. Call a man ungrateful and you can call him no worse. This was the character of David's enemies (Psa 35:12): They rewarded me evil for good. A great deal of good service he had done to his king, witness his harp, witness Goliath's sword, witness the foreskins of the Philistines; and yet his king vowed his death, and his country was made too hot for him. This is to the spoiling of his soul; this base unkind usage robs him of his comfort, and cuts him to the heart, more than any thing else. Nay, he had deserved well not only of the public in general, but of those particular persons that were now most bitter against him. Probably it was then well known whom he meant; it may be Saul himself for one, whom he was sent for to attend upon when he was melancholy and ill, and to whom he was serviceable to drive away the evil spirit, not with his harp, but with his prayers; to others of the courtiers, it is likely, he had shown this respect, while he lived at court, who now were, of all others, most abusive to him. Herein he was a type of Christ, to whom this wicked world was very ungrateful. Joh 10:32. Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those do you stone me? David here shows,
1. How tenderly, and with what a cordial affection, he had behaved towards them in their afflictions (Psa 35:13, Psa 35:14): They were sick. Note, Even the palaces and courts of princes are not exempt from the jurisdiction of death and the visitation of sickness. Now when these people were sick, (1.) David mourned for them and sympathized with them in their grief. They were not related to him; he was under no obligations to them; he would lose nothing by their death, but perhaps be a gainer by it; and yet he behaved himself as though they had been his nearest relations, purely from a principle of compassion and humanity. David was a man of war, and of a bold stout spirit, and yet was thus susceptible of the impressions of sympathy, forgot the bravery of the hero, and seemed wholly made up of love and pity; it was a rare composition of hardiness and tenderness, courage and compassion, in the same breast. Observe, He mourned as for a brother or mother, which intimates that it is our duty, and well becomes us, to lay to heart the sickness, and sorrow, and death of our near relations. Those that do not are justly stigmatized as without natural affection. (2.) He prayed for them. He discovered not only the tender affection of a man, but the pious affection of a saint. He was concerned for their precious souls, and, since he helped them with his prayers to God for mercy and grace; and the prayers of one who had so great an interest in heaven were of more value than perhaps they knew or considered. With his prayers he joined humiliation and self-affliction, both in his diet (he fasted, at least from pleasant bread) and in his dress; he clothed himself with sackcloth, thus expressing his grief, not only for their affliction, but for their sin; for this was the guise and practice of a penitent. We ought to mourn for the sins of those that do not mourn for them themselves. His fasting also put an edge upon his praying, and was an expression of the fervour of it; he was so intent in his devotions that he had no appetite to meat, nor would allow himself time for eating: "My prayer returned into my own bosom; I had the comfort of having done my duty, and of having approved myself a loving neighbour, though I could not thereby win upon them nor make them my friends." We shall not lose by the good offices we have done to any, how ungrateful soever they are; for our rejoicing will be this, the testimony of our conscience.
2. How basely and insolently and with what a brutish enmity, and worse than brutish, they had behaved towards him (Psa 35:15, Psa 35:16); In my adversity they rejoiced. When he fell under the frowns of Saul, was banished the court, and persecuted as a criminal, they were pleased, were glad at his calamities, and got together in their drunken clubs to make themselves and one another merry with the disgrace of this great favourite. Well, might he call them abjects, for nothing could be more vile and sordid than to triumph in the fall of a man of such unstained honour and consummate virtue. But this was not all. (1.) They tore him, rent his good name without mercy, said all the ill they could of him and fastened upon him all the reproach their cursed wit and malice could reach to. (2.) They gnashed upon him with their teeth; they never spoke of him but with the greatest indignation imaginable, as those that would have eaten him up if they could. David was the fool in the play, and his disappointment all the table-talk of the hypocritical mockers at feasts; it was the song of the drunkards. The comedians, who may fitly be called hypocritical mockers (for which does a hypocrite signify but a stage-player?) and whose comedies, it is likely, were acted at feasts and balls, chose David for their subject, bantered and abused him, while the auditory, in token of their agreement with the plot, hummed, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. Such has often been the hard fate of the best of men. The apostles were made a spectacle to the world. David was looked upon with ill-will for no other reason than because he was caressed by the people. It is a vexation of spirit which attends even a right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbour, Ecc 4:4. And who can stand before envy? Pro 27:4.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–16 False witnesses did rise up,.... Against David, saying he…
False witnesses did rise up,.... Against David, saying he sought the hurt of Saul, Sa1 24:9, as did against David's antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, Mat 26:59; and against his apostles, Act 24:5; and very frequently do they rise up and bear false witness against his people, which is a very heinous crime;
they laid to my charge things that I knew not: such as David was not conscious of, never thought of doing, much less attempted to do; as the taking away of Saul's life, the contrary of which appeared by his cutting off his skirt only when he was in his hands, and taking away his spear from his bolster when he could have taken off his head; and such were the things laid to the charge of the Messiah, David's son, who knew no sin, nor did any; and the like are exhibited against his members, who go through good report and bad report, and whose good conversation is falsely accused by malicious men.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 16 Returned - Although my fastings and prayers did them…
Returned - Although my fastings and prayers did them no good.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–16 Verse 11. False witnesses did rise up] There is…
Verse 11. False witnesses did rise up] There is no doubt that several of this kind were found to depose against the life of David; and we know that the wicked Jews employed such against the life of Christ. See Mt 26:59-60.
They laid to my charge things that I knew not.] They produced the most unfounded charges; things of which I had never before heard.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 13, 14, 15 Psa 35:11-12. They laid to my charge things I…
Psa 35:11-12. They laid to my charge things I knew not — They accused me to Saul of treacherous designs against his crown and life, and of other crimes of which I was wholly innocent and ignorant. They rewarded me evil for good — For the good offices which I performed to divers of them when I had favour and power in Saul’s court and camp. To the spoiling of my soul — That is, to the stripping of my person of all my comforts and hopes, and of my life itself. This interpretation of the passage, the reader will observe, is given according to the present translation. But the Hebrew verbs, יקומו, ישׁאלו, ישׁלמו, jeshallemu, jishalu, jekumu, are all in the future tense, and the clauses are more properly rendered, False witnesses will rise up, &c.; They will lay to my charge, &c.; They will reward me, &c., which seems to intimate that the prophet was speaking of what was then future, and in the person of him against whom false witnesses did arise, to whose charge they laid things he knew not, and whom they rewarded evil for good; “who, because our souls were sick, clothed himself with the sackcloth of our flesh; mourning at the very thought that his prayers, in any measure, should return into his own bosom.” See Fenwick.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–16 False witnesses did rise up - Margin, “witnesses of…
False witnesses did rise up - Margin, “witnesses of wrong.” The Hebrew is, “witnesses of “violence,”” חמס châmâs. That is, they were persons who, in what they said of me, were guilty of injustice and wrong. Their conduct was injurious to me as an act of “violence” would be.
They laid to my charge - Margin, as in Hebrew: “they asked me.” The word “asked” here seems to be used in the sense of “demand;” that is, they demanded an “answer” to what was said. The usage appears to have been derived from courts, where the forms of trial may have been in the way of question and answer - the mode of accusation having been in the form of “asking” how a thing was, or whether it was so; and the defense being regarded as an “answer” to such an inquiry. Hence, it is synonymous with our expression of laying to the charge of anyone; or of accusing anyone.
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Things that I knew not - Of which I had no knowledge; which never came into my mind. What those charges were the psalmist does not specify; but it is not uncommon for a good man to be falsely accused, and we are certain that such things occurred in the life of David.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–16 False witnesses--literally, "Witnesses of injustice and cruelty" (compare Psa…
False witnesses--literally, "Witnesses of injustice and cruelty" (compare Psa 11:5; Psa 25:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–16 11. The second division of the psalm opens with…
11. The second division of the psalm opens with unalleviated complaint, in a comparison of his own conduct with that of his enemies.
False witnesses—Violent witnesses. They vehemently accuse him. The scene is changed from a battle to a court. Laid to my charge, etc.—They made legal inquiry of things of which he was ignorant. Though the tenses are future, the present and the past are evidently intended, and it would seem as a reminiscence of experience while in the court of Saul. Compare with this the trial of Jesus. Such must ever be the method of procedure where the court and the witnesses are pre-determined to reward evil for good, and condemn the accused.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–16 11. False witnesses] Rather, unrighteous, or, malicious, witnesses rise…
11. False witnesses] Rather, unrighteous, or, malicious, witnesses rise up; lit., witnesses of violence, as in Exo_23:1; Deu_19:16. Cp. Psa_27:12 (A.V. cruelty).
they laid to my charge &c.] R.V. they ask of me things that I know not: calling me to account for crimes, of which I have not even any knowledge. Cp. Psa_69:4. The phraseology is that of a court; not that the Psalmist is to be thought of as actually put upon his trial. David was falsely and maliciously accused of treason and conspiracy against the king’s life (1Sa_24:9). Cp. Mat_26:59 ff.
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11–18. The causelessness of the Psalmist’s persecution and the ingratitude of his persecutors are urged as reasons for God’s interference on his behalf.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 (12) To the spoiling of my soul.—Literally, desolation to…
(12) To the spoiling of my soul.—Literally, desolation to my soul. We may paraphrase,
“They rewarded me evil for good,
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Which to me was desolation.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–16 Vers. 11-18. The second part of the psalm begins…
Vers. 11-18. The second part of the psalm begins with a long complaint, David sets forth the woes under which he is suffering. There are:
1. Calumny (ver. 11).
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2. Ingratitude (vers. 12-14).
3. Malevolence (ver. 15).
4. Insult from the vile and base (ver. 16).
He then passes to prayer: Will not God rescue him (ver. 17)? In conclusion, he for the second time promises praise and thanks (ver. 18).
Vers. 11-18. The wicked and the good.
The general subject in this section of the psalm is a contrast between the wicked and the good, setting forth the baseness of the wicked nature, and the generous sympathies of the good.
I THE BASENESS OF THE WICKED. Their general characteristics are:
1. They often bring false malicious charges against good men. (Ver. 11) "They demand satisfaction at my hands for injuries of which I have never even heard.
2. They return evil for good. (Ver. 12) They had been former friends: this was the sting of their ingratitude and injustice. Former favours sour the minds of the ungrateful, and intensify their hatred.
3. They exult over the calamities of the good, and insult and injure them. (Ver. 15) "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," and cruelty always embrutes the bad mind.
4. They incite the senseless rabble to persecute good men. (Ver. 16) The multitude ever ready without reason to join in a hue and cry, and, without thinking, are ready to become the instruments of bad men.
II THE NOBILITY OF THE GOOD.
1. Broken friendships fill them with a sense of bereavement. (Ver. 12) The good hunger for love, as well as give it; and, when denied it, are afflicted with a sense of loneliness.
2. They are deeply sympathetic with the afflictions of others. (Vers. 13, 14) They fast and pray in token of the sincerity and depth of their sympathy.
3. In the calamities and sorrows of life the good turn to God for help and deliverance. (Ver. 17) Especially the more they feel deserted by former friends.
4. They are constrained to give thanks to God for his mercies. (Ver. 18) They are not ungrateful, like the wicked. Gratitude is a joy to the generous and religious mind. S. False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I know not; (comp. Psa_27:12) literally, malicious, or unrighteous witnesses. (see Exo_23:1) It is not probable that witnesses in a court are intended. David"s calumniators accused him privately to Saul of "seeking his hurt", (1Sa_24:9) and so stirred Saul up against him. (1Sa_26:19) By what is here said, they appear to have accused him to his face, and to have endeavoured to extort from him a confession of guilt.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv11–16 Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up. This is…
Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up. This is the old device of the ungodly, and we must not wonder if it be used against us as against our Master. To please Saul, there were always men to be found mean enough to impeach David. They laid to my charge things that I knew not. He had not even a though of sedition; he was loyal even to excess; yet they accused him of conspiring against the Lord's anointed. He was not only innocent, but ignorant of the fault alleged. It is well when our hands are so clean that no trace of dirt is upon them.
Ver. 11. They laid to my charge things that I knew not. You will say, Why does God permit wicked people to lay to the charge of the godly such things as they are clear of: God if he pleased could prevent it, and stop the mouths of the wicked, that they should not be able to speak against his children? Answer--As all things work for the best to them that love God, so this works for the good of God's people. God doth permit it for the good of his people, and thus he frustrates the hopes of the wicked: they intend evil against the godly, and God disposes of it for good. As Joseph said to his brethren, "You intended evil against me, and God disposed of it for good; "so we may say to such as falsely slander God's people, You intended evil against the people of God, but God disposes of it for good. There is fivefold good that God brings out of it to his people.
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First, God doth by this means humble them, and brings them to examine what is amiss: so that though they be clear of that crime laid to their charge, yet they will then examine whether there be nothing else amiss betwixt God and them; they will search their hearts, and walk more humbly, and cleave more close to the Lord.
Secondly, God doth by this means bring them oftener upon their knees, to seek unto him, to plead their cause, and to clear their innocency. How oft did the prophet speak unto God when the wicked did falsely accuse him; how did he make his moan at the throne of grace unto God, beseeching him to plead his cause, and to keep him close in his way, that the wicked might not rejoice at his downfall! So when God's people see that it is that which the wicked would have, that which is their joy, to see the godly fall into such and such a sin; then the godly will pray more earnestly with David, Lord, lead me in a right path because of my observers; then they will be earnest with God to keep them from falling into that sin that the wicked desire they might fall into; and this is a second good that comes of it.
Thirdly, God doth us the reproach of the wicked as a preventing medicine against that crime which the wicked lay to their charge. The godly have unrenewed nature as well as renewed, and if God should leave them never so little to themselves, they are not their own keepers, they might fall into that sin which the wicked lay to their charge: and every godly man and woman may say when they are falsely accused, It is God's mercy that I did not fall into that sin they lay to my charge. God doth use wicked people's tongues as a warning against such a sin, that when they see how the wicked joy at a brat of their own hatching, then they consider, if the wicked thus joy without a cause, what would they do if they had just cause? Well, by the help of God this shall be a warning to me for ever to watch against that sin: for the time to come I will pray more against that particular sin than I have done, and watch more against that sin than I have done; through God's help they shall never have occasion to rejoice over me in that kind. Truly, I verily believe many a child of God can say by experience, I never should have prayed and watched against such a sin so much, had not God used the tongues of the wicked as preventing physic: I know not my own heart, but that I might have fallen into such and such a sin had not God by this means hedged up my way with thorns; and this is the third good comes of it.
Fourthly, God doth by this means exercise the graces of his people by letting them undergo bad report as well as good report: he tries whether they will cleave close to him in all conditions, as Ps 94:15-17.
Fifthly, God doth by this means teach them how to judge of others when they are falsely accused. For the time to come they will not receive a false report against their neighbour; they will know the truth of a thing before they believe it, and they know how to comfort others in the like condition; and thus God disposes of it for good, and thus God makes the wicked the servant of his people in that very thing which the wicked think to wrong them most in; for he uses the wicked as the rod and wisp, to scour off the rust of their graces and to correct their security; and when the rod hath done its office then it is thrown into the fire; and thus you see how God disposes of the wicked's false accusations of his people for good. Zephaniah Smyth's Sermon, "The Malignant's Plot", 1647.
Ver. 11. The meanness, cruelty, sinfulness, and commonness of slander.
Psalms 35:12*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13–14 I humbled my soul with fasting.
Psa_35:13
I humbled my soul with fasting.
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The duty of fasting
So said David. All Gods faithful children, under every dispensation, have observed the same rule. So must each one now say, who hopes for the highest degree of blessedness hereafter. Can none, then, be saved without fasting? I have heard people sometimes ask. This question might be answered by another: Can any be saved without praying? The same authority has commanded the observance of both. But fasting is an unpleasant duty; and those who wish to escape from it, while they readily grant that it was practised by the Jews, deny that it is binding upon Christians. Did not our Lord fast forty days and forty nights, thus setting us an example of subduing the flesh to the Spirit, that in this way His godly monitions may be more perfectly obeyed? Do not the apostles tell us that they were in fastings often? Do they not enjoin it upon Christians to give themselves to fasting and prayer? This may all be true, answers an objector, but why not leave it to each one to discharge this duty when he feels disposed, and why celebrate the fast of Lent, which sprung Up, perhaps, during the dark ages of the world? In reply to the first question, I would merely say that if we wait until we feel in a humour to fast, we shall never fast at all. Hence the wisdom of the Church in appointing stated seasons (or it, when we are bound to attend to it, or prove ourselves unworthy and disobedient children. Our Saviour said to His disciples (Mat_9:15). And from the earliest ages of the Church directions concerning this observance are found. But while it is expected of all to keep the fasts of the Church, all cannot observe them alike. The sick, or such as are just recovering their health, may not be able, perhaps, to abstain from food; and they who are obliged to toil hard for their daily bread, require more to sustain their strength than those whose lives are less active. But all should deny themselves in some way. (John H. Norton.)
My prayer returned into mine own bosom.--
The benefits of prayer
The ancient garments were loose and flowing, and fell in a hollow fold upon the bosom; into which fold were often put articles of use, or value, for the convenience of carriage; and especially when presents were made, they were frequently deposited there. By his prayer returning into his own bosom, therefore, David meant, that though it failed to bring the desired benefit to those for whom it was delivered, it should turn to his own recompense and advantage. Such is the case, more or less, with all the acts of kindness rendered to our neighbour; they conduce not only to his benefit but our own. Ye who take delight in the well-being of others, and make it a business in your life to minister thereto, know well the value of this grace to your own hearts; it is a perpetual source of consolation and satisfaction. And even if you fail in pleasing those whom you seek to please, or in benefiting those whom you seek to benefit; still the good to yourself is not lost; there is joy in the endeavour, independent of the result. The pious act to which the text alludes was the fruit of love, of the most disinterested and holy affection. David was surrounded with bitter and violent enemies, who daily sought his life; and the manner in which he expresses himself respecting them reminds us strongly of Davids Lord. He lifted up his heart in supplication to the mercy-seat; he did all that in him lay. But his prayer was not granted, as neither was the prayer of Jesus for the reckless Jew. From this remarkable instance before us, I am led to speak of the value of intercessory prayer, of prayer for our brethren, and for all our fellow-creatures. God has ordained it (1Ti_2:1). We know not what may be dependent upon our prayers. What good they may bring to them for whom we pray. And assuredly they bring much good to us.
I. The prayer for superiors of every kind begets in us that spirit of obedience, which God has commanded, and which God will bless.
II. Children pray for parents. Who can tell the benefits which they themselves derive from this duty? On the other hand, the parent prays for the child. The child is wayward and wanton: the parent prays for correction and amendment; but they do not always come. But the supplication is not without its fruit, in blessed peace of mind from knowing that he has done his best: that his child was not ruined by his neglect to pray for him. And so--
III. for all relatives. The principle of mutual love is kept alive thereby.
IV. But perhaps the most observable instance of all is that wherewith the text is connected, the supplication for enemies. This is a peculiar exercise of faith: this requires a greater struggle in the inner man, to obtain the mastery over our own self-love; and to make us desire with godly sincerity the good of those who have injured us, and to entreat the Lord for it, as for our own favour and blessing. This is indeed a victory of the Spirit of grace; and the Lord honours it with a signal reward, and makes it productive of vast benefit to our souls. Such was the Lords own example. Let us also herein follow our Lord. (J. Slade, M. A.)
The remunerative power of charity
The psalmist is speaking of the ungrateful returns which he received from his enemies for many acts of kindness. When they were in trouble and sickness, he did not fail to intercede with God on their behalf: he prayed for them, and put on sackcloth, and fasted; whereas, he goes on to say, in mine adversity they rejoiced, etc. Were, then, his prayers all thrown away? Not so; he was persuaded that they would return into his own bosom; that the prayers, that is, which should be fruitless in regard to those for whom they were presented, should certainly produce good to him by whom they had been offered. Now, we do not think that sufficient attention is paid to the various modes in which what is done for others, returns, as it were, to the doer, gust as though God regarded it as a loan, and would not permit it to remain long in his hands--for we hardly know the philanthropic deed in regard of which we may not prove the high probability, if not the certainty, that he who performs it gains an abundant requital, even if you suppose him not moved by the purest motive, or not bringing into account the recompenses of eternity. The interests of the several classes in a community, nay, of the various members of the vast human family, are so bound up one with the other, that it is scarcely possible for an individual benefit to fail to be a general; and if the good which is wrought in an isolated quarter cannot remain there, but must propagate itself over wide districts, we may easily believe that God, who orders and appoints all things so that they work His own ends, causes much of this reflected good to fall on the party with whom it originated; and thus he who fasted and humbled himself in sackcloth finds that his prayer hath returned into his own bosom. If I support infirmaries for children, I take the best means of preventing our being hereafter burdened with sickly and dependent families; disease is corrected, and the injuries are repaired in childhood which entail on us, if neglected, a crowd of miserable objects; and what I give to the pining infant I more than receive back from the vigorous man. If I support hospitals for the reception of those who must otherwise perish unregarded, what do I but take measures to continue to his family the industrious father, on whom it hangs for subsistence, and whose death would make it a pensioner on benevolence? Then surely what I give will, in all probability, return into mine own bosom, if it prove instrumental in preserving a useful member to the community, and prevent fresh demands upon charity. Neither does this take into account what ought not to be omitted--that there is a direct tendency in hospitals and infirmaries to the nourishing in the poor kindly feelings towards the rich; and he can know little of the mutual dependence of the several ranks in society, who does not know that money employed on the procuring this result is money at interest, and not money sunk. But let us now consider more particularly the ease in which the motive to benevolence is such as God approves--man acting from a principle of love to the Saviour, who has declared that He counts as done to Himself what is done for His sake to the least of His brethren. We believe that even in the present life the remunerating power will have a greater sphere of exercise in this case than in any other. It is to be observed, that though a Christian will be ready, with St. Paul, to do good unto all men, he will study with the same apostle to do good, especially to those that are of the household of faith; and if his charities bring him mostly into association with those who are serving the same Lord, and if, though he neglect not the temporal, he is chiefly instrumental in supplying the spiritual wants of the destitute, it is very evident that there will be that returned to him in the prayers and blessings of those whom he succours, which there would not be if the objects of his benevolence were all at enmity with God. But if we may contend that what we have called the remunerating power of charity is already in operation, who can doubt that hereafter, when we reach the time and scene, which are specially appointed for the Divine retributions, it will be proved to the letter that our gifts and our deeds have returned into our own bosoms. When we read that even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shell not lose its reward, we are taught that God takes account of the minutest acts of Christian benevolence, and designs them a recompense, so that as not even the least can escape His observation, not even the least shall be without retribution. He annexes rewards to our actions to show His graciousness, and to animate to obedience; and, with this as the base, He may justly be expected to leave no service unrequited, and yet at the same time to requite in proportion to the action. But with all the reasons there may be for expecting the most exact retributions, who can doubt that the righteous will hereafter be amazed and overcome, as the strict connection is shown them between what they did and what they enjoy? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 The Hypocrisy and Malice of the Wicked
The Hypocrisy and Malice of the Wicked
v. 11. False witnesses, literally, "witnesses of violence," did rise up, with unjust accusations; they laid to my charge things that I knew not, of which he knew himself to be innocent.
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v. 12. They rewarded me evil for good, which he, on his part, was trying to show them, to the spoiling of my soul, to make his soul bereaved, to make him friendless, to isolate him.
v. 13. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, in sympathetic mourning for their trouble; I humbled my soul with fasting, in making their sorrow his own; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom, for he was bowed forward so far, with his head lowered, that his voice sounded against his own bosom. Thus he had entreated for his enemies in the greatest earnestness and humility.
v. 14. I behaved myself as though he, the enemy in distress, had been my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, in dust and ashes, so that he appeared squalid and dirty, as one that mourneth for his mother, in the very deepest grief.
v. 15. But in mine adversity, his halting, lameness, said of any deep distress, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together, to witness the spectacle of his great trouble; yea, the abjects, contemptible, degraded persons, gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not, people of whom he had till then not even taken notice; they did tear me and ceased not, attacked him with scorn and laughter, and were not silent;
v. 16. with hypocritical mockers in feasts, those who love to make sport of a poor sufferer by cracking biting jokes at his expense, they gnashed upon me with their teeth, in a gesture of sneering contempt, probably also with stammering of distorted things.
v. 17. Lord, how long wilt Thou look on? namely, without doing something to effect deliverance for him. Rescue my soul from their destruction, my darling, literally, "my only one," from the lions, from the wild and ravenous people who were treating him so contemptuously.
v. 18. I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation, paying his vows of thanksgiving with all the other believers; I will praise Thee among much people, people. of numbers and might. The congregation of believers may seem small and weak in the eyes of the world, but before the Lord and in His might they are invincible.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 13, 15 rise up
rise up
This means they testify in a trial. AT: "volunteer to give a testimony" (See: Idiom)
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They repay me evil for good
This is a metaphor which means they give back evil in exchange for the good they have received. AT: "In return for my doing good things for them, they do evil things to me" (See: Metaphor)
evil ... good
These abstract nouns can be stated in other forms. AT: "evil things ... good things" (See: Abstract Nouns)
I am sorrowful
"I am extremely sad"
translationWords
righteous
corrupt witness
raise
accuse
evil
good
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 16 35:11-18 The psalmist presents the Lord with the reasons…
35:11-18 The psalmist presents the Lord with the reasons for his suffering. Evil has many faces. He is tired and worn out, and he knows that only the Lord can help him.
35:11 Malicious witnesses want nothing but violence (see 11:4-6; 54:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.