Mazmur 35:4-8

35:4 May those who seek my life be embarrassed and humiliated!

May those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed! ¹ 

35:5 May they be ²  like wind-driven chaff,

as the Lord’s angel ³  attacks them! ⁴ 

35:6 May their path be ⁵  dark and slippery,

as the Lord’s angel chases them!

35:7 I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me

and dug a pit to trap me. ⁶ 

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ⁷ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ⁸ 

[35:4]  ¹ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies. See also the distinct jussive form in v. 6.

[35:5]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. See v. 4.

[35:5]  ³ sn See the mention of the Lord’s angel in Ps 34:7.

[35:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “as the Lord’s angel pushes [them].”

[35:6]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer.

[35:7]  ⁶ tc Heb “for without cause they hid for me a pit of their net, without cause they dug for my life.” It appears that the words “pit” and “net” have been transposed. “Net” goes with the verb “hid” in the first line (see v. 8, as well as Pss 9:15; 31:4), while “pit” goes with the verb “dug” in the second line (see Ps 7:15).

[35:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ⁸ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.