Psalm Chapter 35 - A Psalm of David
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“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me, bite against them the fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Fall out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me.”From the transcript
Psalm 35: The Friend Who Mourned Alone
Of all the psalms of David, this one may cut closest to the bone — not because of what his enemies did, but because of who they were. "I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother," David says of the very people now hunting him. "I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother." When they were sick, he wore sackcloth. When they suffered, he fasted. And when his turn came to suffer, they gathered together and laughed. There is a particular cruelty in betrayal by those you have loved, and David does not prettify it. He asks God to take up shield and buckler, to draw the spear, to chase his enemies like chaff before the wind. These are not polite prayers. They are the prayers of a man whose goodness has been repaid with mockery, whose grief has been met with gnashing teeth and the words "Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it." And yet even here, in the thick of his fury, David does not take vengeance into his own hands. He brings his rage to God, which is itself a kind of faith — perhaps the hardest kind. The psalm ends not with destruction but with a vision of the righteous shouting for joy, and David resolving that his tongue shall speak of God all the day long.
00:00 Plead My Cause, O Lord
00:30 Chaff Before the Wind
01:00 My Soul Shall Rejoice
01:30 Evil for Good
02:00 I Mourned as for a Brother
02:30 The Mockers Gather
03:00 Lord, How Long?
03:30 Stir Up Thyself
04:00 Let the Lord Be Magnified
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Daily Psalms - Classical Psalms Every Day — Psalm Chapter 35 - A Psalm of David. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
Psalm 35 A psalm of David. Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me, bite against them the fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Fall out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devised my hurt. Let them be his chaff before the wind, and let the angel the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery, and let the angel the Lord persecute them. For without cause have they hid from me their net and a pit, which without cause they
have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him that unawares, and let his net that he hath hid catch himself, into that very destruction let him fall. For my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, his shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which delivereth the poor from him that is too strong for him. Ye the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him. False witnesses did rise up, they laid to my charge things that I knew not, they rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul. And as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returnedeth unto my own bism. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother.
I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother, but in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together. The abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not. They did tear me and ceased not, with hypocritical mockers and feasts. They nashed upon me with their teeth. Lord how long will that look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation. I will praise thee among much people, but not them that are mine and ame is wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause, for they speak not peace, but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
Ye they opened their mouth wide against me and said, aha, aha, our eye have seen it. This thou hast seen, O Lord keep not silence. O Lord, be not far from me. Stir up thyself and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause my God and my Lord. Judge me, O Lord, my God, according to thy righteousness. And let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, aha, so would we have it. Let them not say we have swallowed him up. Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion, together that rejoice at mine hurt. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me. Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause. Ye let them say continually, let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure and the prosperity
of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.
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