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THE MESSAGE

Psalms 35:11

Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere, they stand up and badger me. They pay me back misery for mercy, leaving my soul empty.

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.
Berean Standard Bible
Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
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.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I do not know.

Contextual Overview

11Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere, they stand up and badger me. They pay me back misery for mercy, leaving my soul empty. 13When they were sick, I dressed in black; instead of eating, I prayed. My prayers were like lead in my gut, like I'd lost my best friend, my brother. I paced, distraught as a motherless child, hunched and heavyhearted. 15But when I was down they threw a party! All the nameless riffraff of the town came chanting insults about me. Like barbarians desecrating a shrine, they destroyed my reputation.

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
God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don't eat that.
Genesis 12:2
I'll make you a great nation and bless you. I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I'll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 15:5
Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"
Genesis 35:1
God spoke to Jacob: "Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau."
Genesis 35:4
They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.
Genesis 35:26
God spoke to Jacob: "Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau." Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, "Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we're going to Bethel. I'm going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I've gone since." They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob. Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that's where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother. And that's when Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak). God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: "Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that's your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler)." God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants. And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God's-House). They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid—you have another boy." With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune). Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, "Rachel's Grave Stone." Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did. There were twelve sons of Jacob. The sons by Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn Simeon Levi Judah Issachar Zebulun. The sons by Rachel: Joseph Benjamin. The sons by Bilhah, Rachel's maid: Dan Naphtali. The sons by Zilpah, Leah's maid: Gad Asher. These were Jacob's sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.
Genesis 46:3
God said, "I am the God of your father. Don't be afraid of going down to Egypt. I'm going to make you a great nation there. I'll go with you down to Egypt; I'll also bring you back here. And when you die, Joseph will be with you; with his own hand he'll close your eyes."

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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