By David.

35:1 O Lord, fight those who fight with me! Attack those who attack me!

35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, and rise up to help me!

35:3 Use your spear and lance against those who chase me! Assure me with these words: “I am your deliverer!”

• Refer to Isaiah 43:11

35:4 May those who seek my life be embarrassed and humiliated! May those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed!

35:5 May they be like wind-driven chaff, as the Lord’s angel attacks them!

35:6 May their path be dark and slippery, as the Lord’s angel chases them!

• Refer to Angels

35:7 I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me and dug a pit to trap me.

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! Let the net they hid catch them! Let them fall into destruction!

• Refer to God of Irony

35:9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord and be happy because of his deliverance.

35:10 With all my strength I will say, “O Lord, who can compare to you? You rescue the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.”

35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, and falsely accuse me.

35:12 They repay me evil for the good I have done; I am overwhelmed with sorrow.

35:13 When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, and refrained from eating food. (If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!)

35:14 I mourned for them as I would for a friend or my brother. I bowed down in sorrow as if I were mourning for my mother.

35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together; they gathered together to ambush me. They tore at me without stopping to rest.

35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, and tried to bite me.