Psalms 35:11

"Unrighteous witnesses rise up;

They ask me of things that I know not.

They reward me evil for good,

To the bereaving of my soul.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:

I afflicted my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.

I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or brother:

I bowed down mourning, as one that bewaileth his mother.

But in mine 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:

Like the profane mockers in feasts,

They gnashed upon me with their teeth.

Lord, how long wilt thou look on?

Rescue my soul from their destructions,

My darling from the lions.

I will give thee thanks in the great assembly:

I will praise thee among much people."

"In this Part 2 of the psalm, persons whom the psalmist had befriended in their sickness, turn against him bearing false witness against him."[10]

"They ask me of things that I know not" (Psalms 35:11). These former friends, now false witnesses against David, "Were claiming to be witnesses of violent deeds that David was supposed to have done; and they kept raising questions as if he had done those deeds, but of which David had no knowledge whatever."[11]

"They reward me evil for good" (Psalms 35:12). "What David complains of in 12a, we hear Saul confess in 1 Samuel 24:18; thus David's charges of ingratitude are here well founded."[12]

"My prayer returned into my own bosom" (Psalms 35:13). Translators have had difficulty knowing exactly what this means. Beginning with Martin Luther, some have rendered it, "prayed most earnestly";[13] and others have taken it to mean that, "The prayer would return unanswered to him or as a blessing upon himself as in Matthew 10:13."[14] The latter understanding seems better to us.

"The abjects gathered themselves together against me" (Psalms 35:15). The dictionary defines `abjects' as `sunk to a low degree,' `mean,' or `despicable.' Dummelow, on the basis of Job 30:1,6, described these people as, "the most worthless outcasts."[15] As Rawlinson said, "It is a matter of common knowledge that when men of high position fall into misfortunes, the base and vulgar crowd always turns against them with scoffing, jeers and every sort of contumely."[16]

"I will give thee thanks in the great assembly" (Psalms 35:18). As in all three sections of this psalm, the conclusion again promises praise and thanksgiving to God for the deliverance which the psalmist is sure he shall receive.