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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Psalms 35:11

Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Enemy;   False Teachers;   Friends;   Ingratitude;   Perjury;   Slander;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Psalms, the Book of;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Malice;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Psalms;   Sin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - False Witness;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Witness;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Calumny;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Malicious witnesses come forward;they question me about things I do not know.
Hebrew Names Version
Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don't know about.
King James Version
False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
English Standard Version
Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.
New Century Version
Men without mercy stand up to testify. They ask me things I do not know.
New English Translation
Violent men perjure themselves, and falsely accuse me.
Amplified Bible
Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I do not know.
New American Standard Bible
Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know.
World English Bible
Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don't know about.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Cruell witnesses did rise vp: they asked of me things that I knewe not.
Legacy Standard Bible
Malicious witnesses rise up,Who ask me of things that I do not know.
Contemporary English Version
Liars accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.
Complete Jewish Bible
Malicious witnesses come forward, asking me things about which I know nothing.
Darby Translation
Unrighteous witnesses rise up; they lay to my charge things which I know not.
Easy-to-Read Version
There are witnesses trying to harm me. They ask me questions that I know nothing about.
George Lamsa Translation
False witnesses rose up; they charged me with things that I knew not.
Good News Translation
Evil people testify against me and accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.
Lexham English Bible
Violent witnesses rise up; they ask me concerning what I do not know.
Literal Translation
Witnesses of violence rise up; they asked me what I did not know;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
False witnesses are rysen vp, & laye to my charge thinges that I knowe not.
American Standard Version
Unrighteous witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I know not.
Bible in Basic English
False witnesses got up: they put questions to me about crimes of which I had no knowledge.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Unrighteous witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I know not.
King James Version (1611)
False witnesses did rise vp they layd to my charge things that I knew not.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
False witnesse did rise vp: they layde thinges to my charge that I know not.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Unjust witnesses arose, and asked me of things I new not.
English Revised Version
Unrighteous witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I know not.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Wickid witnessis risynge axiden me thingis, whiche Y knewe not.
Update Bible Version
Unrighteous witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I don't know.
Webster's Bible Translation
False witnesses arose; they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not.
New King James Version
Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know.
New Living Translation
Malicious witnesses testify against me. They accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.
New Life Bible
People come telling lies. They ask me of things that I do not know.
New Revised Standard
Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me about things I do not know.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
There rise up witnesses helping forward violence and wrong, What I know not, they demand of me:
Douay-Rheims Bible
(34-11) Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.
Revised Standard Version
Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I know not.
Young's Literal Translation
Violent witnesses rise up, That which I have not known they ask me.
THE MESSAGE
Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere, they stand up and badger me. They pay me back misery for mercy, leaving my soul empty.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I do not know.

Contextual Overview

11Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.12They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul. 13Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered. 14I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother. 15But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing. 16Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

False witnesses: Heb. Witnesses of wrong, Psalms 27:12, 1 Samuel 24:9, 1 Samuel 25:10, Matthew 26:59, Matthew 26:60, Acts 6:13, Acts 24:5, Acts 24:6, Acts 24:12, Acts 24:13

laid: etc. Heb. asked me

Reciprocal: Genesis 39:14 - he came Exodus 23:1 - an unrighteous witness Deuteronomy 19:16 - a false witness 1 Samuel 17:28 - I know 1 Kings 21:13 - the men of Belial Psalms 55:3 - for they Psalms 64:6 - search Psalms 119:69 - proud Psalms 120:2 - from lying lips Proverbs 6:19 - A false Proverbs 24:28 - not Jeremiah 37:14 - said Matthew 5:11 - when Mark 14:55 - sought Luke 23:2 - forbidding Acts 25:7 - and laid Romans 8:33 - Who

Cross-References

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Genesis 12:2
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
Genesis 13:16
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, "Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able." Then He declared, "So shall your offspring be."
Genesis 17:16
And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her."
Genesis 18:14
Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you-in about a year-and Sarah will have a son."
Genesis 18:18
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Genesis 28:14
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Genesis 32:12
But You have said, 'I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

False witnesses did rise up,.... Against David, saying he sought the hurt of Saul, 1 Samuel 24:9, as did against David's antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 26:59; and against his apostles,

Acts 24:5; and very frequently do they rise up and bear false witness against his people, which is a very heinous crime;

they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not: such as David was not conscious of, never thought of doing, much less attempted to do; as the taking away of Saul's life, the contrary of which appeared by his cutting off his skirt only when he was in his hands, and taking away his spear from his bolster when he could have taken off his head; and such were the things laid to the charge of the Messiah, David's son, who knew no sin, nor did any; and the like are exhibited against his members, who go through good report and bad report, and whose good conversation is falsely accused by malicious men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

False witnesses did rise up - Margin, “witnesses of wrong.” The Hebrew is, “witnesses of “violence,”” חמס châmâs. That is, they were persons who, in what they said of me, were guilty of injustice and wrong. Their conduct was injurious to me as an act of “violence” would be.

They laid to my charge - Margin, as in Hebrew: “they asked me.” The word “asked” here seems to be used in the sense of “demand;” that is, they demanded an “answer” to what was said. The usage appears to have been derived from courts, where the forms of trial may have been in the way of question and answer - the mode of accusation having been in the form of “asking” how a thing was, or whether it was so; and the defense being regarded as an “answer” to such an inquiry. Hence, it is synonymous with our expression of laying to the charge of anyone; or of accusing anyone.

Things that I knew not - Of which I had no knowledge; which never came into my mind. What those charges were the psalmist does not specify; but it is not uncommon for a good man to be falsely accused, and we are certain that such things occurred in the life of David.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 35:11. False witnesses did rise up — There is no doubt that several of this kind were found to depose against the life of David; and we know that the wicked Jews employed such against the life of Christ. See Matthew 26:59-60.

They laid to my charge things that I knew not. — They produced the most unfounded charges; things of which I had never before heard.


 
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