Psalms 35 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1010 BC in David's lifetime, in a collection edited into its final shape after the return from exile around 400 BC
Location
Israel under the early monarchy, with the language of the royal court and the law court in the background
Audience
Israelite worshippers, especially anyone praying while under false accusation
Situation
The singer is being hunted by people who repay his kindness with slander, and he asks God to take up his case like a defence lawyer and a warrior at once. He remembers fasting and mourning for these same people when they were sick.
Key Background
Ancient Israel had no police force and no public prosecutor, so a person wronged had to bring his own case before the elders at the town gate, and if human judges failed him his last appeal was to God as judge. The opening images of shield, spear and battle line come from real infantry equipment of the period, borrowed to describe legal rescue. Praying for harm to fall on enemies, which modern readers find harsh, was a way of handing revenge over to God instead of taking it personally, a restraint the surrounding cultures did not practise.
for me, Yahweh, against those who me. Wage against those who on me.
Pick up your and armor — rise up and come to my defense.
Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers. Tell my "I am your
Let those who hunt my life be and disgraced. Let those who plot my destruction retreat in shame.
Let them be like in the wind, with the of driving them away.
Let their path be and slippery, with the angel of Yahweh pursuing them.
They hid their for me cause, without reason they dug a pit to trap me.
Let come on them by surprise — let the very net they hid catch them instead. Let them fall into their own destruction.
Then my being will celebrate in Yahweh, finding deep joy in his
Every in my will say, "Yahweh, who is like you? You rescue the from those too strong for them, the poor and vulnerable from those who exploit them."
stand up against me, accusing me of things I know nothing about.
They pay me back evil for good — it my
But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth. I in prayer for them. My prayers kept returning to my own chest —
as if they were my friend or my brother. I walked around in grief, like someone mourning their own mother.
But when I they gathered in celebration. Attackers I didn't even know assembled against me, tearing into me without stopping.
Like at a feast, they their at me.
How long, my will you just watch? Rescue my life from their devastation, my one and only life from these
I will give you thanks in the assembly; among a massive crowd I will praise you.
Don't let my gloat over me. Don't let those who hate me for no reason exchange behind my back.
They don't speak of — they invent lies against the of the
They their against me and say, "Ha! We saw it with our own eyes!"
You've seen this, Don't stay silent. My Lord, don't stay far from me.
up! Rise to my defense! My God and my Lord, for my
me by your Yahweh my God, and don't let them gloat over me.
Don't let them think, "Yes! This is what we wanted!" Don't let them say, "We
Let those who celebrate my disaster be completely humiliated and disgraced. Let those who elevate themselves over me be in and
But let those who want things for me shout for joy and celebrate! Let them always say, "Yahweh is great — he delights in the of the who
Then my tongue will speak of your justice and you all day long.