Psalms

Chapter 35

Contend with My Opponents, O LORD

This psalm asks the LORD to take up David's cause against violent and deceitful enemies who hunt him without cause. It moves from pleas for divine warfare and judgment, through grief over betrayal and false witnesses, into renewed appeals that God would not stay silent, and ends by calling for the shame of malicious accusers and the vindication of those who delight in the LORD's servant being shown right.

Psalm 35 is an imprecatory plea shaped by innocence and betrayal. It presents David as one repaid evil for good, and it asks God both to defend the wronged and to expose malicious hostility, so that the final outcome is not private revenge but public praise for the LORD's righteousness and salvation.

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Psalms 35

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vv. 1-28

Contend with My Opponents, O LORD

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O¹f David. ²Take up Your shield and buckler; ³Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; ⁴May those who seek my life ⁵May they be like chaff in the wind, ⁶May their path be dark and slick, ⁷For without cause they laid their net for me; ⁸May ruin befall them by surprise; ⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD ¹⁰All my bones will exclaim,

¹¹Hostile witnesses come forward; ¹²They repay me evil for good, ¹³Yet when they were ill, ¹⁴I paced about ¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; ¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast, ¹⁷How long, O Lord, will You look on? ¹⁸Then I will give You thanks in the great assembly;

¹⁹Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, ²⁰For they do not speak peace, ²¹They gape at me and say, ²²O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent. ²³Awake and rise to my defense, ²⁴Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God, ²⁵Let them not say in their hearts, ²⁶May those who gloat in my distress

²⁷May those who favor my vindication ²⁸Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness

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01vv. 1-28Contend with My Opponents, O LORDDavid calls on the LORD to contend with those who contend against him, to pursue them in judgment, and to save him from hidden traps. He then laments that people he once mourned for now repay him with false testimony and mocking hatred, before appealing again for God to awake, vindicate him, silence his gloating enemies, and give his supporters cause to rejoice and magnify the LORD.