Psalms · psalm 35 of 150
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Psalm 35 is a prayer of David, who asks the Lord to contend with those who contend with him and to defend him from false accusers. David recalls that he lovingly cared for his enemies when they were sick and that now they repay him with evil. Three times he promises to praise the Lord among the people.
The title ascribes the psalm to David without naming the occasion. It is a psalm of lament with three successive prayers, each followed by a promise of praise. It contains strong language against enemies and so is studied among the so-called imprecatory psalms. Verse 19, about hatred without cause, recalls words that Jesus applied to himself in John 15:25.
David asks the Lord to contend with those who contend with him and fight against those who fight against him. He asks him to take shield and buckler and rise to his help, and to say to his soul: I am your salvation. May his pursuers be put to shame, may the angel of the Lord chase them and may the net they hid catch them instead. Then his soul will rejoice in the Lord and say that there is no one like him, who rescues the poor from the stronger.
Next he describes his accusers: malicious witnesses who ask him things he does not know and repay him evil for good. When they were sick, David put on sackcloth, fasted and prayed for them as for a friend or a brother. But when he stumbled, they gathered in glee, mocked him without ceasing and gnashed their teeth at him. He asks: Lord, how long will you look on? And he promises to give thanks in the great congregation.
In the last part he asks that those who hate him without cause not rejoice over him. They speak of peace but plot deceit against the quiet in the land. David reminds God that he has seen it all and asks him not to be silent, to awake and to defend his cause in his righteousness. May those who delight in his vindication shout for joy and say always: great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant. David closes with the promise to tell of God's righteousness and praise all day long.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
David asks God to draw the spear against his pursuers and to say to his soul: I am your salvation. What he needs most is not only to be rescued but to hear his God's word.
David tells how, when his enemies were sick, he humbled himself in prayer and fasting as if mourning a friend or brother. The psalm shows the pain of being repaid with evil by those who received love.
David asks that those who hate him without cause not rejoice over his misfortune. The words recall the expression Jesus used in John 15:25 for the hatred he received for no reason.
Those who delight in David's vindication will shout for joy and say that the Lord is great because he delights in his servant's welfare. The psalm ends by returning to praise.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To contend with those who contend with him and fight against those who fight against him. — Psalm 35:1
Answer: That God say to his soul: I am your salvation. — Psalm 35:3
Answer: He put on sackcloth, fasted and prayed for them as for a friend or a brother. — Psalm 35:13-14
Answer: They gathered in glee against him and attacked him without his knowing it. — Psalm 35:15
Answer: To give him thanks and praise him among many people. — Psalm 35:18
Answer: God's righteousness and his praise. — Psalm 35:28
Psalm 35 gives permission to bring injustice and pain to God without dressing them up. David does not take revenge with his own hands; he entrusts his cause to the Lord and asks him to be judge. In a small group this psalm can help people talk about situations in which someone was slandered or repaid with evil, and remember that God sees and defends.
The psalm contains strong requests against enemies, and they should be read with care. A Christian reads them in the light of Jesus, who taught us to pray for those who persecute us. David himself sets the example in verses 13 and 14: before asking for justice, he prayed for them when they were sick.
Psalm 35 shows that one can pray with intensity, with lament and with a promise of praise. Psalm 36 changes tone: it contrasts the wickedness of the wicked with the Lord's love, which reaches to the heavens.
They are psalms that ask God to judge or thwart enemies, such as 35, 58 or 69. Many scholars read them as prayers that hand vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself. Christians read them knowing that Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
In John 15:25 Jesus says that what is written in their law is fulfilled: they hated me without a cause. This expression appears in Psalm 35:19 and in Psalm 69:4, and the Gospels apply it to the rejection Jesus, the Righteous One, suffered for no reason.
Yes, with nuance. David entrusts his cause to God and does not take revenge himself, and that is the part we imitate. But the Christian also prays for enemies, as Jesus taught in Matthew 5:44, and leaves the final judgment in God's hands.