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Psalm 35

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

Of David.

Contend, O L ord, with those who contend with me;

fight against those who fight against me!

Take hold of shield and buckler,

and rise up to help me!

Draw the spear and javelin

against my pursuers;

say to my soul,

“I am your salvation.”

Let them be put to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life.

Let them be turned back and confounded

who devise evil against me.

Let them be like chaff before the wind,

with the angel of the L ord driving them on.

Let their way be dark and slippery,

with the angel of the L ord pursuing them.

For without cause they hid their net for me;

without cause they dug a pit for my life.

Let ruin come on them unawares.

And let the net that they hid ensnare them;

let them fall in it—to their ruin.

Then my soul shall rejoice in the L ord,

exulting in his deliverance.

All my bones shall say,

“O L ord, who is like you?

You deliver the weak

from those too strong for them,

the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”

Malicious witnesses rise up;

they ask me about things I do not know.

They repay me evil for good;

my soul is forlorn.

But as for me, when they were sick,

I wore sackcloth;

I afflicted myself with fasting.

I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,

as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;

I went about as one who laments for a mother,

bowed down and in mourning.

But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,

they gathered together against me;

ruffians whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

they impiously mocked more and more,

gnashing at me with their teeth.

How long, O L ord, will you look on?

Rescue me from their ravages,

my life from the lions!

Then I will thank you in the great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise you.

Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,

or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.

For they do not speak peace,

but they conceive deceitful words

against those who are quiet in the land.

They open wide their mouths against me;

they say, “Aha, Aha,

our eyes have seen it.”

You have seen, O L ord; do not be silent!

O Lord, do not be far from me!

Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense,

for my cause, my God and my Lord!

Vindicate me, O L ord, my God,

according to your righteousness,

and do not let them rejoice over me.

Do not let them say to themselves,

“Aha, we have our heart’s desire.”

Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.”

Let all those who rejoice at my calamity

be put to shame and confusion;

let those who exalt themselves against me

be clothed with shame and dishonor.

Let those who desire my vindication

shout for joy and be glad,

and say evermore,

“Great is the L ord,

who delights in the welfare of his servant.”

Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness

and of your praise all day long.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

In the following verse, that he may cherish still greater confidence in God, David again declares, that he has to do with enemies of an irreconcilable character, and who are fully bent upon cruelty. Of this we ought to be firmly persuaded, that the more grievously we are oppressed, so much the more certainly ought we to expect deliverance. He therefore says, that they speak of nothing but of tumults and slaughter. The meaning of the latter clause is somewhat obscure, arising from the ambiguous signification of the word רגע, rige. As the word from which it is derived sometimes signifies to cut, and sometimes to rest, or to be quiet and peaceable, there are some who translate it the meek and peaceable of the earth: others translate it, with the tranquil and easy of the earth; meaning by this, those who live in the midst of riches and abundance, in the enjoyment of undisturbed repose. Both these seem to me to be forced interpretations. Others, too, though not more correctly, expound the word in caves or secret places, in order that, as they say, the wicked and deceitful counsels of such persons may not come to light. But it may be very appropriately rendered, the clefts of the earth, and by this metaphor are meant the miserable and afflicted, who are, as it were, broken and maimed. David, therefore, declares that as soon as his enemies see any opening, that is to say, some calamity befall him, they instantly put forth all their efforts to accomplish his destruction. Those who, in the time of his prosperity and power, never dared even to utter a word against him, began now, when they saw that his influence was feeble, to plot his ruin, just as we know that the wicked are for the most part persons of a servile and cowardly disposition, and assume not the tone of insolence save when an advantageous opportunity presents itself, as when the good and simple are in adversity. To the same purpose he represents them in the next verse, as crying out with open mouth, Aha! aha! and clapping their hands for joy that they saw David overcome, and, as it were, laid prostrate in the dust, a spectacle in which they took great delight.