Hated Without Cause (Psalm 35)

Read Psalm 35:

Of David.

¹ Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! ² Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! ³ Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!” ⁴ Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! ⁵ Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away! ⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them! ⁷ For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. ⁸ Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction! ⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation. ¹⁰ All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

¹¹ Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know. ¹² They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft. ¹³ But I, when they were sick—I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. ¹⁴ I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning. ¹⁵ But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; ¹⁶ like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth. ¹⁷ How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! ¹⁸ I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.

¹⁹ Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause. ²⁰ For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit. ²¹ They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!” ²² You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! ²³ Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord! ²⁴ Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me! ²⁵ Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, our heart’s desire!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.” ²⁶ Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me! ²⁷ Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” ²⁸ Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.

To the choirmaster.

Understand Psalm 35:

In Psalm 35, hateful enemies chase king David as he cries out for Yahweh to save him.[1] David teaches us, by example, how to remain faithful when we are hated by the world as well.[2]

A. Our Appeal for God’s Deliverance (vv. 1–10)

David calls the Lord to action: “Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers!” (vv. 1-2). “Contend” is a legal term because David desires the finest defense attorney to take his side. He needs an able advocate against his many accusers.

To “fight” then carries a military connotation as David pictures a mighty warrior who will rise on his behalf. This soldier has strapped to his arm a small, round shield (magen) for defense in close combat and moves forward behind a buckler (ṣinnah)—like a full-body barrier to guard him from enemy arrows. The spear and javelin are weapons for counterattack once the Lord turns the battle against David’s pursuers.

Most importantly, David appeals for God’s assurance: “Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation!’” (v. 3). As his strength is almost spent, David reminds himself that God alone can save. What a comfort! What hope!

Yet David also desires justice. He wants the Lord to do to his enemies what his enemies are doing to him: “Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away!” (vv. 4-5; see 1:4). David imagines his enemies slipping and sliding in the dark as they flee in terror from the Lord himself (35:6).[3] He prays for God to bring on them the justice they deserve: “Let them be ensnared by the very net they have hidden for me. Let them fall into the very pit they have dug for my life. Let the violent meet a violent end” (see vv. 7-8). David prays for poetic justice, for he maintains his innocence—that he is hated “without cause” (v. 7; see v. 19).

He believes so firmly in the Lord’s deliverance that he promises to praise him when it happens: “Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation” (v. 9). Essentially, he marvels, “O Lord, who is like you in the courtroom? Who is like you in battle?” (see v. 10). The answer is, “No one. No one compares. No one even comes close!” (see Exod 15:11).

David appeals for God’s deliverance, but he does not foresee how it will come to pass. He could not have known Christ would be the King of kings and the answer to his prayer. Yet David’s greater Son would be rejected and betrayed by his own people. The haters would surround him and seek his life. They would set a trap before him and dig a pit to bring him low. Despite his innocence, they would condemn him without cause in the courts of men. Yet still, his soul would glory in the Lord and rejoice in the God who saves.

God’s Son would also pray about his enemies. Yet instead of condemning them with curses, he would take their curse upon himself. He would fall into the pit for them in order to be their Savior. Instead of coming as the Angel of death, he would be the Giver of eternal life. He would contend and fight against his enemies by making them his friends. Therefore, we appeal for God’s deliverance through his beloved Son. And we know this truth from the depths of our bones as our souls rejoice in Christ (Ps 35:9-10).

B. Our Advocate Against Unjust Enemies (vv. 11–18)

The Lord not only delivers us, however, but also advocates on our behalf. David’s slanderous enemies are out for blood: “Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know. They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft” (vv. 11-12). These false witnesses had once been friends whom David loved, making their betrayal that much worse (vv. 13-14): “I grieved for them. They laughed at me. I comforted them. They falsely accused me. I prayed and fasted when they were sick. They afflicted me in return. I considered them my brothers, but they have been my enemies.” David has not simply been maligned, but even worse betrayed.

Then, “at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth” (vv. 15-16). David feels like the main course at a banquet of ferocious beasts. The wolves circle their fallen prey. The vultures soar above. His enemies tear him limb from limb. They devour him without mercy.

Thus, he laments that God seems absent: “How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!” (v. 17). David appeals to Yahweh: “Rescue me! Spare my precious life from the lions’ jaws. How can you sit on your hands when my enemies are closing in?” The term, “precious” (yachid) describes a beloved child like Abraham’s son, Isaac (Gen 22:2) or like God’s one and only Son who gave his life to be our Savior (John 3:16).

Yet even in his sorrow, David trusts that God will save him and he vows to worship when the Lord delivers: “I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you” (Ps 35:18). These are not the promises of one who’s lost all hope, for the king’s lament has led to praise.

As we read this psalm through the eyes of Jesus, we realize that he sang it of himself. For our Savior also would be hated without cause and arrested by an angry mob. At the cross, they would repay him evil for good and make his soul bereft. Though he had taught them marvelous truths from Scripture, they would speak malicious lies against him. Though he had healed their sick, those wretches would lash him violently with whips. Though he had shown them great compassion, those lions would brook no mercy. Though he had grieved when they were mourning, he would be buried without mourners in a borrowed tomb.

Our Lord Jesus would be betrayed by Judas—his close friend and brought to trial before the Council of his own people. False witnesses would stand up to accuse him of blasphemy, sedition, and other crimes he had not done. The crowd would then come out for blood as they cried, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And even as he died upon a cross, those profane mockers would gather around to gloat over his demise.

Thus, these horrors of Psalm 35 were fulfilled in Christ Jesus, David’s greater Son. He too could pray, “How long, O Lord, will you look on?” (v. 17a; see Matt 27:46). Yet even in his death, our Lord could proclaim, “I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you” (Ps 35:18). For in three days’ time, Jesus would be raised up from the dead. He would be proven righteous and exalted to his Father’s right hand. Even now, he receives constant acclamation in the congregation of saints and angels as the mighty throng of heaven resounds with his eternal praise.

C. Our Adoration of the Righteous Judge (vv. 19–28)

Each section of Psalm 35 will end in praise (vv. 10, 18, 27-28). Thus, David now calls us to adore the Righteous Judge. Again, he declares the unjust accusations to be “without cause” (v. 19; see v. 7). For he is innocent of those charges and does not deserve such hatred. His enemies trouble those who cause no trouble: “For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit. They open wide their mouths against me; they say, ‘Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!’” (vv. 20-21).[4] Despite their wrongful accusations, “You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord! Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!” (vv. 22-23).

David appeals here to Yahweh’s incomparable character (see v. 10).

To his omniscience: “You have seen, O LORD!”
To his omnipotence: “O LORD; be not silent!”
To his omnipresence: “O Lord, be not far from me!”
To his immanence through the use of personal pronouns: “My God and my Lord!”
To his justice: “Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness!”

Then, once more, David calls down curses on his enemies—not for his own sake, but for the sake of God: “Give the haters what they deserve”(vv. 24-26). God’s people, by contrast, always seek his glory and the good of others: “Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad” (v. 27a). David prays for grace and peace in the “welfare” (shalom) of God’s servant (v. 27b), so that Yahweh might be worshiped: “Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long” (v. 28). As David emerges victorious from God’s heavenly courtroom, his people praise the Divine Defender—the king’s Advocate against his haters. As the Righteous Judge declares him innocent, David declares God’s praises to the nations.

Once more, we direct our eyes to Jesus. For on the night before his death, our Savior would quote Psalm 35 in his upper room discourse with the disciples: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. . . . Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” (John 15:18-20, 23-25; see Ps 35:19).

Jesus would identify himself as the greater Son of David whose haters ultimately hate his Father. Thus, David’s enemies represent the enemies of Christ and Christ’s enemies represent the haters we face today. For like our Savior, we too will be hated without a cause. As servants, we are no greater than our Master. Yet we too can declare with Christ: “Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, ‘Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!’ Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long” (Ps 35:27-28).

Do you delight in the righteousness of Christ? Then, praise the Lord! Do you delight in his greatness and his glory? Then, praise the Lord! Do you delight in his salvation and the peace he offers? Then, praise the Lord all day long and forever into eternity! Our adoration of the Righteous Judge finds true fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Apply Psalm 35:

How would Jesus have interpreted Psalm 35 as he sung it aloud in the Jewish synagogue? List all the ways the truths of this psalm ultimately applied to him.
Learn to incorporate the imprecatory psalms into your prayer life. Instead of simply praying against your personal enemies, pray for Christ to foil your enemy’s plans. Pray for transformed hearts instead of terrible destruction. Pray for them to be “defeated” through conversion and not the final judgment. Pray for poetic justice, so that Christ the King of kings should be ultimately praised: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).
Reflect on the question, “O LORD, who is like you?” (Ps 35:10a; Exod 15:11). Then, search Psalm 35 to discover each one of God’s incomparable attributes.
Read John 15 and consider why Jesus quoted from Psalm 35:19? How did he draw the parallel between David’s past affliction and his own? What lessons did he teach his followers about being hated by the world?
Take a moment to rejoice in Jesus Christ as your Powerful Deliverer, Eternal Advocate, and Righteous Judge.
Compose a psalm of your own which expresses your faith in God even when you are hated without cause.

Counsel Psalm 35:

Psalm 35 wrestles with all the varied struggles our counselees might face when haters turn against them: shame and dishonor, despair over their helplessness, the pain of betrayal, desire for vengeance, and their need for salvation. Show them how to rejoice in Christ who promises to deliver them from evil, defend them from their enemies, and declare them righteous before God.

Projects for Growth (Psalm 35)

Describe a time when you felt hated without cause or unjustly accused by others. How did you feel? How did you respond?
What temptations in your heart might drive you to justify yourself before others? How is your righteousness found only in Jesus Christ?
Picture the Lord’s deliverance using the images from Psalm 35: A valiant warrior (v. 1b); The defensive weapons of “shield and buckler” (v. 2); The offensive weapons of “spear and javelin” (v. 3a).
Praise the Lord for his incomparable character: Omniscience: “You have seen, O LORD!”; Omnipotence: “O LORD; be not silent!”; Omnipresence: “O Lord, be not far from me!”; Immanence: “My God and my Lord!”; Justice: “Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness!”
Meditate on Isaac Watts’ hymnodic rendition of Psalm 35. How do these lyrics draw out the marvelous attributes of our great God?[5]

Pray Psalm 35:

Come to your people’s aid, O Lord (vv. 1-3).
O God, you are incomparable—there is none like you! (v. 10).
Deliver the persecuted and display your glory in all the earth (v. 22).
Judge me, O God, according to your righteous Word (v. 24).
Teach me how to praise you all day long (vv. 18, 27-28).

[1] Psalm 35 is also an imprecatory prayer: “Help, O Lord, to destroy my enemies!” Such curses might sound rough to Christian ears because they seem to go against our Savior’s teaching: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). Yet David wrote these words under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, not from sinful flesh (2 Tim 3:16). If the king fell, it would destabilize the nation. If Israel’s covenant representative was condemned, then their covenant God would also be reproached.

[2] Hamilton identifies a chiastic focus on David’s insistence that he has been faithful even toward his enemies (Hamilton, Psalms, 1:384).

35:1–3, Plea

35:4–8, Imprecation

35:9–10, Praise

35:11–12, Wicked

35:13–14, Faithful

35:15–16, Wicked

35:17–18, Praise

35:19–26, Imprecation

35:27–28, Prayer

[3] “The angel of the LORD” brought salvation for his people, but destruction for his enemies (Exod 23:20-22). “The angel of the Lord,” likely referring to the preincarnate Christ, appears only twice in the entire psalter (Pss 34:7; 35:5-6).

[4] “Aha” (heʾāḥ), related to “vanity (hebel), is an exclamation of malicious joy only spoken by the wicked (e.g., 35:21, 25; 40:15; 70:3).

[5] Isaac Watts, “Psalm 35,” accessed at https://www.ccel.org/ccel/watts/psalmshymns.Ps.81.html.