Psalms 35:1-28
1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be darka and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
11 Falseb witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoilingc of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbledd 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 adversitye 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.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darlingf from the lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among muchg people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfullyh rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah,i so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.
Gordon Churchyard
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God Help Me
Psalms 35
Gordon Churchyard
Jesus said, Which one of you can prove that I have sinned? (John 8: 46) "Prove" means "show it is true". The answer is in the Letter to the Hebrews: He did not sin, Hebrews 4: 15)
Psalms 35
(This is) for David.
v1 *Lord, argue with those people that are arguing with me.
Fight against those people that are fighting against me.
v2 Pick up a small shield and a big one.
Get up and give me help.
v3 Pull out a small spear and a long one.
(Use them) against the people that are running after me.
Say to me. "I will make you safe".
v4 Some people want to kill me.
I hope that they will become ashamed.
I hope that everyone else will think that they are very bad.
Some people are planning to destroy me.
Turn them back and confuse them.
v5 Make them become like chaff in the wind.
Let the angel of the *LORD send them away.
v6 Make their way dark and dangerous.
Let the angel of the *LORD be unkind to them.
v7 (Do this) because they hid a trap for me.
There was no reason for it.
For no reason they dug a pit for me.
v8 Surprise him and destroy him!
Catch him in the trap that he hid! Let him die in his own pit!
v9 Then I will be pleased because of what the *LORD has done.
I will be happy when the *LORD has made me safe.
v10 All my bones will shout, "*LORD, who is like you?
You take the poor man away from the man that is too strong for him.
You take the people that need help away from those that hurt them".
v11 People say that they saw me do bad things.
They asked me about it, but I knew nothing.
v12 They paid me evil for the good things that I did.
I felt as if (my children) had died.
v13 When they were ill I wore clothes made from *sacks.
I hurt myself by not eating food.
My prayer came back to my own *breast.
v14 I cried when I walked about. I became bent because I was so sad.
I lived as though my friend or my brother or (even) my mother (was ill).
v15 But when I fell down they laughed.
They all met together. They came together against me.
I did not know the people that were attacking me.
They would not stop hurting me.
v16 They were like godless people and they mocked me more and more.
They showed their teeth (like a wild animal).
v17 *LORD, how long will you watch (this)?
Take me away from the people that are destroying me.
Save the thing that I love most from the lions.
v18 I will thank you in the great meeting.
I will praise you when all the people are together.
v19 Do not let my enemies laugh at me.
They hate me, but have no reason for it.
Do not let them *wink at me with their eye.
v20 They do not talk about peace.
They say false things to the people in the land that do not want trouble.
v21 They open wide their mouth against me.
They say, "*Aha! Aha! Our eyes saw it!"
v22 *LORD, you saw it (also).
Lord, do not remain *silent. Do not stay far from me.
v23 Wake up! Get up and give me justice!
Argue (for me against them), my Lord and my God.
v24 *LORD, you are righteous.
Give me justice, my God. Do not let them laugh at me.
v25 Do not let them think in their heart, "*Aha! (this is) what we wanted".
Do not let them say, "We have eaten him up!"
v26 (Do this) to them that laughed at me when I became hurt:
• make them ashamed and confused at the same time
• make them sorry that they said that they were greater than me
• make them feel that they are wearing *disgrace like clothes
v27 (Other) people will be very happy (when you say) that I am righteous.
They will shout out in their pleasure.
They will always say, "The *LORD is great!
He loves it when his servant has peace!"
v28 My mouth will say that you are righteous.
I will praise you all day long.
The Story of Psalms 35
David may have written this:• either when Saul was trying to catch him
• or when David's son Absalom was fighting him
Saul was king of Israel before David. Absalom was David's son, who wanted to be king in David's place. In the psalm, David asks God to fight for him. He asks God to take Saul (or Absalom) away from the earth. To us the language is not very nice, but they would not think this 3 000 years ago. It is the language of war.
War is when countries fight each other. David sees God as a soldier, fighting for him with shields and spears. This is what we call a "human picture" of God. We believe that God sends people or angels to do his work for him. In the psalm the angel is probably one that the Jews called Michael.
The important thing to learn from this psalm is this: David does not try to kill his enemies himself. He wants God to do it in God's way. When we have enemies, we must ask God to do something. We must not try to hurt them ourselves. Look at Psalms 5.
What Psalms 35 means
| Parts of the psalm | What David did wrong
| What David's enemies did | What David will do when God sends help |
| 1: verses 1 - 10 | nothing, verse 7
| they wanted to kill him, verse 4 | be very happy, verses 9 – 10 |
| 2: verses 11 - 18 | nothing, verses 12 – 14 | they mocked him, and did evil things to him, verses12, 15-16 | thank and praise God, verse 18 |
| 3: verses 19 - 28 | Nothing, verse 19 | they say lies, verses 20 –21 | praise God all day, verse 28 |
Some of the ideas are a bit strange to us, but they are how the Jews thought.
Verse 10: "all my bones" means "all of me".
Verse 13: we are not sure what "my prayer comes back" means; there are 2 ways to explain it: either God did, or did not, answer David.
Verse 17: "the thing that I love most" is probably "my life".
Something to do
Find the important words in Psalms 35, and put a mark on them in some way The words are in the table below.
| Words | Number of times in Psalms 35 |
| Argue | 3 |
| run after | 2 |
| angel of the LORD | 2 |
| no reason | 3 |
| Trap | 2 |
| Pit | 2 |
| Laugh | 4 |
| Aha! | 3 |
| Saw | 2 |
| Justice | 2 |
Count argue / arguing, run / running, laugh / laughing as the same words
LORD ~ a special word for God; only his people use it
Lord ~ someone with authority, sometimes a name for God
LORD ~ a special word for God; only his people use it
Lord ~ someone with authority, sometimes a name for God
sacks ~ big bags made of material that is not soft
breast ~ here the top part of any human body, male or female
wink ~ close an eye then immediately open it again'Aha/Aha! ~ a sound that people make when they think that they are right and that you are wrong
silent ~ not saying anything, no noise
disgrace ~ when people think that you are bad you are "in disgrace"