Psalm 35:11-18 "Faithfulness In The Lion's Den"

Translation & Sermon By Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 25 Mar 2018

INTRO:

With a title like “Faithfulness in the Lion’s Den” you might surmise that I’m going to depart from the Psalms to do a sermon on Daniel, but Daniel is mighty sparse on details once Daniel was in that Lion’s Den. All we know is that he was thrown in there and the entrance was sealed up with a large stone, and that God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions. So if you want to know the details of how to be faithful during the time you’re in a lion’s den, the book of Daniel isn’t very helpful, instead, Psalm 35 is the place to go!
In Psalm 35, David deals with a case of injustice when he was attacked for no good reason, and my hypothesis is that it is the occasion when Saul tried to chase David down in the Negev with the Israeli army and kill David for treason, even though David was not trying to overthrow the government but was actually supportive of Saul’s kingship.
Last week we saw that David’s response teaches us that distorted communication, hopeless cynicism, and unhappiness are the opposite of what we are called to do as God’s people. We are called to pray God’s words, we are called to hope in God’s justice, and we are called to rejoice in God. In other words, rather than fighting for ourselves, we can call in God to fight for us and trust that He will save us!

1. Hold Fast to God’s Righteousness – God’s Categories of Right & Wrong

In v.12, David says, “They repay me evil for good.” This means that David is holding fast to absolute categories of evil and good, “LORD, I did what you say is good; they did what you say is evil. I am not going to stoop to their level and do evil back; I am going to stick with Your rules and honor Your moral authority.
V.11 pictures a court trial with ruthless/malicious witnesses rising up/coming forward/taking the stand to accuse David falsely. This is explains a little more why David used the same verb in v.2 when he asked God to rise up/come forward and come to his defense, although in v.2 the image was that of a battle where he needed a shield. In the courtroom metaphor in v11, what David needs is a good defense attorney and an honest judge.
Instead of despairing of justice and compromising the truth and plea-bargaining in order to work the system and get at least a halfway-decent outcome. David holds his position and says that the so-called witnesses are doing violence to the truth and to him, accusing him of things he doesn’t even know about. The word he uses to describe these witnesses is the same root from which the Hamas terrorist group got its name. David preserves God’s categories of truth and falsehood, right and wrong when everyone around him had abandoned God’s categories. David also holds to the truth and says he doesn’t even know about the things they’re accusing him of.
Perhaps they cross-examined David like they did the priests at Nob: “Why have you conspired against me, you and [Ahimelek], in that you have [acquired from] him bread and a sword… [to] rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?” (1 Samuel 22:13, NKJV) Well, if you know David’s side of the story, you know it wasn’t like that at all! Ahimelek has merely fed David because David was hungry and had given David the sword that was rightfully his; neither had any thought whatsoever of undermining Saul’s authority as King. Saul and his cohorts were acting like violent despots – David knew what had happened after that kangaroo court trial of Ahimelek – all the innocent priests at Nob had been slaughtered except for one who escaped to tell David. David had every reason to believe he would not get a fair trial either in Saul’s court.

· 1 Samuel 24:9-10 And David said to Saul: "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Indeed David seeks your harm'? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD's anointed.'” (NKJV)

· And what happened to David was also typical of what happened to Jesus: Matthew 26:59-60 “Then the high priests and the elders and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking for a false witness against Jesus so that they might put Him to death… and many false witnesses came forward…” (NAW)

Cf. Psalm 27:12 “Don’t extend me to the desire of my oppressors, because false witnesses have risen up against me, panting for violence.” and Psalm 25:19-12 “Look at my enemies because they have become many, and they have hated me [with] violent hatred. Please guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, Because I have taken refuge in You. Integrity and righteousness will protect me because I have waited for You.” (NAW)
In verse 16, David uses the word chanaph to describe his antagonists.

The modern versions translate it “godless/ungodly/profane,” and I think that is better than the KJV “hypocritical.”
Numbers 35:33 says that murder creates chanaph
Job says that “forgetting God” is chanaph (8:13) and that it is the opposite of being innocent and justified (17:8)
Psalm 106:38 says that sacrificing children to idols creates chanaph
Proverbs 11:9 says that slander is also chanaph
Isaiah 24:5 says that transgressing God’s law is chanaph
Jeremiah 3:1 says that adultery creates chanaph

These are all laws that God gave us in the Bible! David is accepting God’s paradigms of right and wrong and calling evil evil. (Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe to those who say to evil, ‘Good!’ and to good, ‘Evil!’ setting darkness for light and light for darkness, setting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe those who are wise in their eyes and in front of their faces consider themselves intelligent.” (NAW)
A contemporary application of this is with the same-sex marriage movement. I understand from personal experience the false accusations that sexual rights activists can put on you, together with the psychological, social, and political pressure to affirm the direction they are trying to take public policy. The easy way is to give in to them and avoid the conflict because they sure know how to get nasty. Nobody likes to be the target of their protests and website slamming and their incredibly deceitful, filthy and hateful words. It’s no wonder that many corporations have chosen to support rather than resist the demands of these sexual revolutionaries. I am given to understand from a recent Acts 20:28 newsletter, that “a well-known author extended a gesture of ‘love’ by publicly affirming the ‘holiness’ of the homosexual lifestyle… Rosaria Butterfield, a former tenured professor at Syracuse University, now author… wrote, ‘Calling God’s sexual ethic hate speech, does Satan’s bidding…I only know who I really am when the Bible becomes my lens for self-reflection, and when the blood of Christ so powerfully pumps my heart whole that I can deny myself, take up the cross, and follow him…. When we advocate for laws and policies that bless the relationships that God calls sin, we are acting as though we think ourselves more merciful than God is.’”
Compromising with those who are evil in order to make life easier for ourselves is not the way to save ourselves when we are being falsely accused for God’s righteousness.

2. Love Your Enemies

In v.13, David says he fasted and put on sackcloth[1] when his enemy was sick.

We know from 2 Sam. 1 that David tore his clothes and fasted and mourned when he heard that Saul had died. This gave honor to the man who hated him, and it’s the only time that this tsom- fast is mentioned in the historical books during the lifetime of David (with the exception of when David fasted to see if God would spare the life of his child born of adultery with Bathsheba).
Ps. 69 & 109, seems to describe the same circumstances in which David said he fasted in Ps. 35:

Psalm 69:4-13 “Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it… Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother's children; Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD…” (NKJV)
Psalm 109:1-30 “Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good… 24bMy knees are weak through fasting… I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads. Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy… When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame… I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.” (NKJV)
The amount of reproach falling upon David seems to fit more with his self-imposed exile during Absalom’s coup than with his mourning over Saul at which point people were treating David with the respect due a king.

At the end of v.13, David also says he is praying - apparently for these same adversaries. It’s hard to tell for sure what it means that his prayer turned back upon his bosom – that’s a literal rendering of the Hebrew. There’s no phrase quite like it in the rest of the Bible. Translators go three different ways with it:

The ESV made a valiant attempt to make more sense of it in terms of bowing ones head to pray,

but I am given to understand that bowing ones head in prayer is a relatively recent invention of the Western church
and besides, the word “head” is not in the Hebrew text,
and the feminine singular Hebrew verb “returned” clearly matches the feminine singular subject “prayer,” so it is the prayer that bounced back to him, not his head.

The NIV interprets this phrase by substituting the word “unanswered” for the original word “bosom,” which makes fair sense, considering what Jesus said to His disciples

in Luke 10:5-6 “But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you.” (NKJV)
David is praying earnestly with fasting for healing and for good to come to these folks, and perhaps he is making a commentary that these were not prayers God wanted to answer regarding those folks, so God re-routed those prayers to turn into blessing upon David instead.

My preference, however, is to interpret this phrase to mean that David’s prayers for these folks welled up often from his inmost being.

“The proper meaning of the expression is, that he did not ostentatiously utter his prayers aloud before men, like many who pretend much more affection than they really feel, but that by praying in secret, and without making the world privy to it, he showed that he was sincerely and from the heart distressed by reason of their affliction.” ~John Calvin

Jesus taught His followers in His Sermon on the Mount: “Love your enemies, [bless the ones who curse you, do good to the ones who hate you^TR/Byz] and pray for the ones who [are threatening you and^TR/Byz] persecuting you” (Matt. 5:44, NAW). When you experience mistreatment, will you follow this rule and pray for your adversaries and do good to them, while, at the same time, holding fast to God’s righteousness?

3. Make Your Case in Prayer to God for Deliverance

In v.12, David mentions that he has experienced bereavement.

David had to move away from his parents and brothers so they would not be hurt by Saul,
he had to leave his wife in order to escape with his life;
he had to leave his best friend Jonathan to escape into the wilderness.
He lost a lot due to Saul’s injustices.

The Hebrew root word for “bereaved” connotes specifically the loss of offspring.

The only loss of a child to David that we know of from the Historical records of the Bible due to the kind of false accusations, injustice and violence spoken of in this Psalm is the coup instigated by David’s son Absalom.
According to 2 Samuel 15:4, Absalom used flattery to win the hearts of his father’s people and insinuated that David was unjust in his judgments. Then Absalom marched into Jerusalem with an army and took over the country. But after a while, Absalom was killed, and David came back out of hiding to continue as king.
Perhaps this was the bereavement that David was speaking of, I don’t know, but, as David stated in the previous psalm, “God is near to those who are brokenhearted.” David knows that it is the character of God have pity on those who are grieving in the wake of injustice, so he mentions this sorrow of heart as part of the case he makes for God to intervene in this unjust situation.

You can do this too. Instead of bellyaching to everybody around you about all the injustices that have been done to you (which most people don’t want to hear anyway), tell God about the grief you experience, and lay the case in God’s hands to do something about it.
In v.12, David makes the case that he has done what is good and his adversaries have done what is evil, so he appeals to God’s justice too, in addition to God’s pity.

Part of this appeal to justice is the case that David makes that he is not out for revenge. He cares for the welfare of these adversaries, and that’s why he was willing to pray and fast and mourn for them.
“[T]o afflict the soul (v.13) is the Hebrew term for a fast… He adopted the outward forms of mourning which consisted in neglect of personal appearance by not washing or trimming the hair (2 Sam. 19:25)” ~A. Cohen
Gerald Wilson elaborated on this in the NIV Application Commentary, “This is… not so much as case of wishing your enemy ill as it is a desire for righteousness and justice to prevail with all its necessary consequences… The point of the public discrediting of the wicked is that others will see God at work and thus proclaim, ‘The LORD be exalted…’ The psalm cautions us to be clear about our motives when we seek public vindication… God is not in the vengeance business. Instead he is concerned to set things right. .. what is finally at stake is not our reputations or even our well-being but God’s glory and righteousness.”

In v.15, David makes the case that he is helpless, victimized by cruel enemies, therefore he needs help.

You know, if you are the president of a company, and you walk through the jobsite one day, and a newly-hired kid at the bottom of the payscale calls you a bad name, and you take him to court over it, the judge isn’t going to take you very seriously - if he is an honest judge. You’re the president of the company; you can fire employees if you want; it’s no threat to you if this kid doesn’t like you; you don’t need a judge to intervene on your behalf to stop him from calling you names. But, on the other hand, if you were that new hire working on minimum wage, and the CEO of the company came by and called you a bad name and threatened you, and you took him to court over it, a just judge would pay careful attention, because you are the vulnerable party in that relationship, and if there is any abuse of power on the part of the CEO, that judge will intervene on your behalf because you don’t have the power to protect yourself from abuse.
David is telling God, “Look, I’m being victimized here! They’re not going to stop tearing into me – whether literally with their swords, or figuratively with their slanderous words, and they have more attacks and injuries in store that they are planning to mete out to me, and to top it all off, they are enjoying watching me get hurt; they are eagerly looking on with glee and laughing when I limp/stumble.

V.16 further brings out the bad things these enemies said,

The NIV, following the Septuagint, says “they maliciously mocked,” but most English versions have something to the effect of “mockers/jesters at a feast.”
Rabbi Cohen, in his Soncino commentary on this Psalm says this is “a comparison with buffoons who indulge in ridicule to earn a meal from their audience… [so it’s describing] unprincipled men who, to curry favor with Saul, make play with [David’s] good name and abet the king’s plan to destroy him.”
Classic German protestant commentators Keil & Delitzsch, in their classic commentary on the Old Testament wrote “ לַֽעֲגֵי מָעֹוג means: mockers for a cake, i.e., those who for a delicate morsel, for the sake of dainty fare, make scornful jokes, viz., about me, the persecuted one… They gnash upon him with their teeth after the manner of the profanest among those, by whom their neighbour's honour is sold for a delicate morsel.”
Calvin adds, “I am disposed to think that those who indulged in jesting and scoffing at feasts, and who, in sitting over their cups, consulted about putting David to death, are here referred to. He therefore complains, that even in the midst of their feasting and banqueting, the ungodly, who had shaken off all shame, communed how they might take away his life.”
Perhaps the picture is of them “chewing” on David, a figure of speech we also use when we mean someone has “scolded” or belittled us with their words. “Gnashing the teeth,” on the other hand, may be a literal sound made with the teeth to express disgust, frustration, or and hatred.

In v.17, David indicates that his soul – his life (which he only has “one” of, by the way, so it is infinitely “precious” and “dear” to him) has been ravaged/devastated by their injurious words and actions, and he is like a helpless animal being toyed with by lions (caphirim cf 34:10) – perhaps the same lions mentioned back in Psalm 22:19-21 “Yahweh, don’t You be distant… my help… Please deliver my life from the sword – my one-and-only… Cause to save me from the lion’s (ariel) mouth…”
In v.17, David says not only, “rescue” but literally “bring me back” (Hiphil-causative stem of the verb shuv). “Snatch me away, yes, but also resuscitate me and bring me home!”
Finally, in v.17 David brings in the fact that God is his “master,” his “lord,” reminding God in a fairly-respectful way that God has a responsibility to take care of David.

He trusts that God has a plan but he’s wondering what it is, so he says, “How long?” You can only ask that question of the one who is in control of what’s going on, so it is a way of recognizing God’s lordship to respectfully ask, “How long?”
God can’t treat David with indifference as though David’s plight was somebody else’s business. Yahweh is David’s “lord” which means that David is Yahweh’s subject – a charge that the LORD is duty-bound to protect.
God must move from His role as heavenly “observer/on-looker” into action as divine “Helper” (which is what David said back in vs.2).
You can bring this lordship-servant principle over into your prayer life too. “Lord Jesus, by buying me with your blood, You have become my owner, so You have a responsibility to take care of me, since I am now Your property. I’m counting on this, Lord!” That is a perfectly legitimate prayer; you have the legal right to pray it!

See how David makes his case? Can you do the same when you pray?
Let me also add that your Deliverer understands from personal experience what unjust suffering is like, so He is going to respond real understanding when you make a case to Him:

They tore his skin to shreds with a cat-o-nine-tails whip.
They were happy to see him stumble as He carried His cross to the execution place.
They gathered around His cross as He died in agony and mocked and jeered at Him.
You have a sympathetic ear in Jesus because He can totally empathize with how you feel when you are treated unjustly. Go ahead and make your case to Him!

Love your enemies while remaining aligned with God’s righteousness, then make your case concerning the injustice you have faced and the urgency of your need for God to help you - along with His obligation to take care of you because He is your Lord.
If you learn anything from this section of Psalms, you should know that God answers these kind of prayers with deliverance. But David doesn’t focus on the deliverance; rather he assumes it and focuses next on what to do after the deliverance:

4. Don’t Forget to Say Thank You!

In v.18, David says, “I will respond with thanks”
There was some kid somewhere who was out shopping with his mom, and the store clerk gave the kid a grape lollipop for a free treat. The Mom then leaned down and said to her child, “Now what do you say?” and the kid said…. “I kinda wanted a strawberry one.” You don’t want to be that person!
In Psalm 9:1, David said, “I will respond with thanks to the Lord with all my heart”
In Psalm 18:49, David said, “I will respond with thanks to You among the nations”
In Psalm 30:12, he said, “I will respond with thanks to You forever”
And in Psalm 33:2, he said, “Respond with thanks” by singing and playing musical instruments.
Now, in Psalm 35:18, David says, “I will respond with thanks in the great congregation, among a people that is mighty/many.” Remember that the word “people” in the Bible, is not the plural of “person” but rather refers to an ethnic group, specifically the Jewish people - and even more specifically the devout Jews who worshipped the one true God:

The “great assembly/congregation” is a church gathering when the maximum number of people attend. In David’s day, it might have been a worship service during one of the feast weeks when everybody from out of town came in for special holiday worship services (cf. “general assembly” of Hebrews 12:23). It might be the equivalent of a Sunday morning worship service on Easter or Christmas today.
Praise is multiplied by the number of people who hear it, so when you talk about how wonderful God is with more people, God gets more glory. I think that’s David’s goal: maximum glory to God.
The Hebrew word behind the word translated “mighty/much[2]/throngs/staunch” literally means “bone-y,” connoting both “strong” and “tight-knit” like bones are. It is an allusion to the word which God used to describe to Abraham what the Jewish people would be like: “Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty (‘atzom) nation…” (Genesis 18:18, NKJV)
Today we call the “congregation” the “church,” and the New Testament (as well as the prophecies of the OT) say that the people of God are Christ-followers of every ethnicity (although we recognize that the Jews nevertheless still retain some significance in God’s redemptive plan). Don’t keep it to yourself; indulge in God’s praises along with other Christians – lots of other Christians when you can!

Conclusion

Not only was this Psalm about David, it also described the experience of Jesus,

against whom false witnesses railed,
and against whom ridiculous cross-examination questions were asked in court,
who was repaid evil for doing good,
who prayed for sinners but was mocked by His enemies as He died on a cross,
and yet whose soul was brought back from the ravages of death and who was justified in the eyes of God.
Jesus understands being mistreated and hoping in God’s justice.

So, when you’re in your lion’s den, will you follow David’s example and Jesus’ example?

Will you hold fast to God’s righteousness and not give an inch to wickedness?
Will you love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you?
Then will you ask God to save you, and argue your case before Him about how bad off you are without him and how much you need him and how He is your Lord?
And then, when you make it out of your lion’s den, will you remember to stop and thank and praise God and share with other people about His deliverance? Will you take the time to attend church worship services for the rest of your life in order to express your appreciation to Jesus for saving you from hell?

Psalm 35:11-18[A]

Vaticanus (Psalm 34)	Brenton (LXX)	Douay-Rheims (Vulgate)	KJV	NAW	MT
34:11 ἀναστάντες μάρτυρες ἄδικοι ἃ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον ἠρώτων με·	11 Unjust witnesses arose, and asked me of things I new not.	11 Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.	11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.	11 Violent witnesses get up; they cross-examine me concerning stuff I don’t know about.	יא יְקוּמוּן עֵדֵי חָמָס אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַעְתִּי יִשְׁאָלוּנִי.
34:12 ἀνταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ καλῶν [καὶ] ἀτεκνίαν[B] τῇ ψυχῇ μου.	12 They rewarded me evil for good, [and] bereavement to my soul.	12 They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.	12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling[C] of my soul.	12 They repay me evil for good; my soul experiences bereavement.	יב יְשַׁלְּמוּנִי רָעָה תַּחַת טוֹבָה שְׁכוֹל[D] לְנַפְשִׁי.
34:13 ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν τῷ αὐτοὺς παρενοχλεῖν[E] [μοι] ἐνεδυόμην σάκκον καὶ ἐταπείνουν ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχήν μου, καὶ ἡ προσευχή μου εἰς κόλπον μου ἀποστραφήσεται.	13 But I, when they troubled [me], put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting: and my prayer shall return to my own bosom.	13 But as for me, when they were troublesome [to me], I was clothed with haircloth. I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.	13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled[F] my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom[G].	13 And as for me, my clothing was sackcloth when they were sick; I afflicted my soul with a fast and my prayer churned over my inner being.	יג וַאֲנִי בַּחֲלוֹתָם לְבוּשִׁי שָׂק עִנֵּיתִי בַצּוֹם נַפְשִׁי וּתְפִלָּתִי עַל חֵיקִי תָשׁוּב.
34:14 ὡς πλησίον, ὡς ἀδελφὸν ~~ἡμέτερον~~[H], οὕτως εὐηρέστουν· ὡς πενθῶν ~~καὶ~~ σκυθρωπάζων, οὕτως ἐταπεινούμην.	14 I behaved agreeably towards them as if it had been ~~our~~ neighbour or brother: I humbled myself as one mourning ~~and~~ sad of countenance.	14 As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one mourning ~~and~~ sorrowful so was I humbled.	14 I behaved myself as though[I] he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily[J], as one that mourneth[K] for his mother.	14 I conducted myself as though he were a friend – as though he were a brother to me; I bowed gloomily according to the customary-mourning for ones mother.	יד כְּרֵעַ כְּאָח לִי הִתְהַלָּכְתִּי כַּאֲבֶל אֵם[L] קֹדֵר שַׁחוֹתִי.
34:15 καὶ ~~κατ~~᾿ X ἐμοῦ ηὐφράνθησαν καὶ συνήχθησαν, συνήχθησαν ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ μάστιγες, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνων, [M]διεσχίσ~~θησαν~~ καὶ οὐ κατενύγησαν.	15 Yet X[N] X they rejoiced against me, and plagues were plentifully brought against me, and I knew it not: they [were] scattered, but repented not.	15 But they rejoiced X X against me, and came together: scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not. 16 They were separated, and repented not:	15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects[O] gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:	15 But they were happy with my limping so they gathered together; injuries were gathered against me while I did not know; they tore in and they did not cease.	טו וּבְצַלְעִי שָׂמְחוּ [P]וְנֶאֱסָפוּ נֶאֶסְפוּ עָלַי נֵכִים[Q] וְלֹא יָדַעְתִּי קָרְעוּ וְלֹא דָמּוּ.
34:16 ~~ἐπείρασάν~~ με,[R] ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με ~~μυκτηρισμόν~~, ἔβρυξαν ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν.	16 ~~They~~ ~~tempted~~ me, ~~they~~ sneered at me ~~most~~ ~~contemptuously~~, they gnashed their teeth upon me.	16 ~~they tempted me~~, they scoffed at me with ~~scorn~~: they gnashed upon me with their teeth.	16 With hypocritical[S] mockers [in] feast[s], they gnashed upon me [with] their teeth.	16 With profanities of mockings of cake they gnashed their teeth over me.	טז בְּחַנְפֵי לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג חָרֹק[T] עָלַי שִׁנֵּימוֹ.[U]
34:17 κύριε, πότε[V] ἐπόψῃ; ἀποκατάστησον τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπὸ τῆς κακουργίας αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ λεόντων τὴν μονογενῆ[W] μου.	17 O Lord, when wilt thou look [upon me]? Deliver my soul from their mischief, mine only-begotten one from the lions.	17 Lord, when wilt thou look [upon me]? rescue thou my soul from their malice: my only one from the lions.	17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.	17 Master, how long will You be an observer? Bring back my soul from their ravages – my one-and-only from the juvenile lions!	יז אֲדֹנָי כַּמָּה תִּרְאֶה הָשִׁיבָה[X] נַפְשִׁי מִשֹּׁאֵיהֶם[Y] מִכְּפִירִים יְחִידָתִי.
34:18 ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι, [κύριε], ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ πολλῇ, ἐν λαῷ βαρεῖ^{^[Z]} αἰνέσω σε.	18 I will give thanks to thee even in a great congregation: in an abundant people I will praise thee.	18 I will give thanks to thee in a great (numeroso) church; I will praise thee in a strong people.	18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.	18 I will respond to You in the great congregation; with a staunch people I will praise You!	יח אוֹדְךָ בְּקָהָל רָב בְּעַם עָצוּם אֲהַלְלֶךָּ[AA].

[1] Augustine made the case that human “flesh” was the “sackcloth” that Jesus put on when we were sick with sin, quoting Rom. 8:3.

[2] “C’est, beaucoup {many} de peuple.” ~Calvin (but I disagree ~NAW)

[A] My original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright restrictions have forced me to remove them from the publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB, or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. Hebrew text that is colored purple matches the fragments of this Psalm found among Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), and variants between the DSS and the MT (Masoretic Text) are noted in endnotes with the following exceptions: When a holem or qametz-hatuf or qibbutz pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a vav (or vice versa), or when a hireq pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a yod (the corresponding consonantal representation of the same vowel) – or vice versa, or when the tetragrammaton is spelled with paleo-Hebrew letters, I did not record it a variant. The three known Dead Sea Scrolls containing parts of Psalm 35 are 4Q83 (vs. 2, 13-20, 26-27), 4Q85 (vs. 27-28), 4Q98 (vs. 4-20).

[B] Notable Synonyms: Aq. ατεκνωσιν, Symm. αντεστραμμενα

[C] NASB=bereavement, NIV=leave forlorn, ESV=[is] bereft

[D] Cross references on “evil for good” in David’s life are: 1 Samuel 25:21; Psalms 35:12; 38:20; and 109:5.

Isa. 47:8-9 is the only other place that shacol occurs as a noun in the Hebrew OT, and there it speaks of the loss of a child. Hushai used the same word as a verb to describe David later on as a bear “deprived” of its cubs (2 Sam. 17:11), an phrase echoed later by Solomon and by Hosea. Since all the other occurrences have to do with the loss of offspring, some have suggested that this refers to the conflict with Absalom who killed one of David’s sons (Amnon) and was later killed himself, thus David lost two sons due to their own wickedness.

[E] Aq & Sym correct to Αρρωστια(ς) without the extra “me,” agreeing with the MT. In either case, the psalmist is doing something righteous, although the LXX textual tradition describes an even more altruistic righteousness than the MT tradition.

[F] ESV=afflicted

[G] NIV=unanswered, ESV=[with head] bowed on my chest (problem, “rosh” is masculine, but “bowed/turned” is feminine).

[H] Symmachus did not add “our” here, comporting with the MT and DSS, confirming that this is probably an added word in the LXX.

[I] NIV inserts “mourning” and ESV inserts “I grieved”

[J] NASB=mourning, NIV=[my head in] grief

[K] NASB=sorrows, NIV=weeping, ESV=laments

[L] LXX (followed by the Vulgate) appears to have read the homonym “with” instead of “mother.” Aq. corrected this to ματρος and Sym. to ομομητριον. Whether translated “mother” or “and,” it doesn’t sidetrack the point of the Psalmist that he was mourning, although “mother” makes for a stronger image of mourning and fits with the progression of increasingly-closer relationships (neighbor, brother, mother). None of the key words for mourning in this verse show up in the historical accounts of David, so we have very little background to illuminate the particulars of what David is describing.

[M] Aquila (ερρηξαν) & Symmachus (απορρηξαντες) corrected the LXX to an active verb which agrees with the MT.

[N] Three early Greek translations correct the LXX omission of “my stumbling/adversity” to the MT reading (Aq. σκασμω μου, Sym. σκαζοντος δε μου, E:ασθενια μου)

[O] NASB=smiters, NIV=attackers, ESV=wretches

[P] DSS 4Q83 does not have an “and” here (nor does the NIV), but it’s in the LXX, Aquilla, & Symmachus. In the next word, DSS 4Q98 reads נספו (without an aleph), but since aleph is a weak letter, it can probably be dropped out without changing the meaning of the word.

[Q] DSS 4Q98 reads תכים “injuries,” agreeing with the LXX, but Symmachus reads πληκται (“pugilists”), agreeing with the MT, indicating that this textual variant has been in existence since at least the second century AD. Since the DSS and LXX are older than the MT and Sym, I’m opting for the oldest-known reading for my translation.

[R] Sym. corrects closer to the MT εν υποκρισει φθεγμασι πεπλασμενοις

[S] NASB=godless, NIV=ungodly, ESV=profane

[T] DSS 4Q83(חׇרֽקוּ) and LXX read past tense instead of the MT’s infinitive, but it makes no difference in meaning. This verb only occurs in a few other places: Job 16:9; Psalm 37:12 & 112:10, and Lam. 2:16.

The only other occurrence of la’ag in the Hebrew OT is Isa. 28:11, where it is translated “stammering/mocking” (as well as “foreign/strange” but I think the latter are not as accurate), and the only other occurrence of ma’owg is 1 Kings 17:12, where it is translated “food/bread/baked item/cake.”

[U] DSS 4Q83 does not have the pronoun at the end of this word, but the LXX and Symmachus support the MT with the pronoun, although they used a plural pronoun whereas the MT pronoun is singular.

[V] The other Greek translations in Origen’s Hexapla all read with the MT “how long” (ποσα).

[W] Cf. synonyms in other Greek translations: Aq: μοναχην, Sym: μονοτητα.

[X] Hiphil Imperative, masculine singular

[Y] Hapex Legomenon, although Isaiah 24:12 seems to have a related word (also a hapex) shiah which I translated “ruin.”

[Z] Βαρει (“weighty”), Cf. Aquila: οστεινω (“boney” and by extension, strong, tight, or numerous – clearly based on the Hebrew word עצם), and Symmachus: παμπληθει (“all together”). Also note tie-in with v.10 “all my bones will say Who is like you?”

[AA] DSS 4Q83 adds a he to the end of the word. The final qametz in the MT would approximate the same sound. The meaning of a he suffix would indicate perhaps a little more emphasis on the volition or on the direction of the praise, but wouldn’t be significant enough to make a difference in English translation.