Psalm 35 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 35 (1928 BCP) is Judica, Domine in the Psalter of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. It is appointed at Morning Prayer on the Seventh Day of the monthly cycle. It gives public language to a sufferer facing false accusation and malicious delight in another's pain; it asks the Lord to judge the cause, remembers mercy toward hostile neighbours, and turns anticipated deliverance into congregational praise.[1]
The 1928 Prayer Book text
PLEAD thou my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me, * and fight thou against them that fight against me.
2 Lay hand upon the shield and buckler, * and stand up to help me.
3 Bring forth the spear, and stop the way against them that pursue me: * say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded, and put to shame, that seek after my soul; * let them be turned back, and brought to confusion, that imagine mischief for me.
5 Let them be as the dust before the wind, * and the angel of the LORD scattering them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, * and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.
7 For they have privily laid their net to destroy me without a cause; * yea, even without a cause have they made a pit for my soul.
8 Let a sudden destruction come upon him unawares, and his net that he hath laid privily catch himself; * that he may fall into his own mischief.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; * it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him; * yea, the poor, and him that is in misery, from him that spoileth him?
11 False witnesses did rise up: * they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good, * to the great discomfort of my soul.
13 Nevertheless, when they were sick, I put on sack-cloth, and humbled my soul with fasting; * and my prayer shall turn into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother; * I went heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together; * yea, the very abjects came together against me unawares, making mouths at me, and ceased not.
16 With the flatterers were busy mockers, * who gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look upon this? * O deliver my soul from the calamities which they bring on me, and my darling from the lions.
18 So will I give thee thanks in the great congregation; * I will praise thee among much people.
19 O let not them that are mine enemies triumph over me ungodly; * neither let them wink with their eyes, that hate me without a cause.
20 And why? their communing is not for peace; * but they imagine deceitful words against them that are quiet in the land.
21 They gaped upon me with their mouths, and said, * Fie on thee! fie on thee! we saw it with our eyes.
22 This thou hast seen, O LORD; * hold not thy tongue then; go not far from me, O Lord.
23 Awake, and stand up to judge my quarrel; * avenge thou my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; * and let them not triumph over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, There! there! so would we have it; * neither let them say, We have devoured him.
26 Let them be put to confusion and shame together, that rejoice at my trouble; * let them be clothed with rebuke and dishonour, that boast themselves against me.
27 Let them be glad and rejoice, that favour my righteous dealing; * yea, let them say alway, Blessed be the LORD, who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And as for my tongue, it shall be talking of thy righteousness, * and of thy praise, all the day long.
A plea for God to judge the cause
The opening is not a licence for private retaliation. Its first verb is juridical: “Plead thou my cause.” The petitioner hands over dispute and judgment to the Lord. The military figures intensify the cry of a person too weak to secure justice by force, and verse 10 names him as the poor person despoiled by one too strong. “Without a cause” makes the ethical issue precise: false witness and predatory hatred deny truth and peace.
Alexander MacLaren observes the legal structure and movement:
The psalmist's life is in danger. He is the victim of ungrateful hatred. False accusations of crimes that he never dreamed of are brought against him. He professes innocence, and appeals to Jehovah to be his Advocate and also his Judge.
The New Testament hears “they hated me without a cause” in Jesus' passion (John 15:25). This does not make every sufferer's claim infallible, but directs Christian prayer toward the innocent Christ, who entrusted himself “to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). The Psalm therefore does not authorize vengeance: it asks God, rather than the speaker, to plead and judge.
Mercy answered by malice
Verses 11–18 deepen the complaint. The speaker had fasted and mourned for those who now mock him, treating an enemy as friend or brother. That remembered mercy exposes the contrast between care and their delight in adversity. Yet the section ends not in imagined victory over them, but in a vow to give thanks “in the great congregation.” The Seventh-Day Morning Prayer use gives the congregation a disciplined way to bring betrayal and slander before God without allowing either to prescribe its final speech.
The psalm has three parts, all of substantially the same import, and marked off by the conclusion of each being a vow of praise and the main body of each being a cry for deliverance, a characterisation of the enemy as ungrateful and malicious, and a profession of the singer's innocence.
Judgment, imprecation, and Christian prayer
The images of verses 4–8 are severe. They seek the defeat of malicious schemes, not a private right to harm. Augustine explicitly treats their language as prophetic rather than a passionate wish for personal revenge:
These things he predicted would come upon them, not as though he wished them to happen. Although the Prophet in the Spirit of God so speaks these things, even as God does the same, with sure judgment, with a judgment good, righteous, holy, tranquil; not moved with wrath, not with bitter jealousy, not with desire of wreaking enmities, but of punishing wickedness with righteousness; nevertheless, it is a prophecy.
Augustine's reading is not a replacement for literal protest. It explains why Christians may pray the Psalm's judgments while renouncing vengeance (Romans 12:19): evil is truly evil, but its exposure and correction belong to God. The Psalm's net that catches its maker also names a moral reality.
Thereby are they deceived, whereby they would deceive. Thence shall come mischief to them, whence they endeavoured mischief.
MacLaren refuses to smooth away the ethical distance between the imprecations and Jesus' command to love enemies:
It is true that the “imprecations” of the Psalter are not the offspring of passion, and that the psalmists speak as identifying their cause with God's; but when all such considerations are taken into account, these prayers against enemies remain distinctly inferior to the code of Christian ethics.
Christians therefore do not edit out the oppressed person's cry, but pray it under Christ's command to love, bless, and overcome evil with good (Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:21).
The cause that makes suffering Christian
The final appeal is not simply “notice my pain” but “judge my quarrel” and “according to thy righteousness.” Augustine calls attention to the distinction between suffering itself and the cause for which one suffers:
Therefore Martyrs, not the punishment, but the cause makes, for if punishment made Martyrs, all the mines would be full of Martyrs, every chain would drag Martyrs, all that are executed with the sword would be crowned.
Pain alone does not prove innocence; the petitioner asks God to examine the cause. The Prayer Book's recitation places every worshipper under that examination. Christians pray for protection against slander while asking that their own speech, conduct, and claim to righteousness be tested by the God who sees.
The final verses turn the individual plea into shared praise. Augustine's practical conclusion gives verse 28 an everyday reach:
Whatever you do, do well, and you have praised God. When you sing an hymn, you praise God, but what does your tongue, unless your heart also praise Him?
Psalm 35 thus moves a Morning Prayer congregation from an exposed cry, through truthful remembrance of mercy and appeal to God's judgment, to praise that extends beyond the lips into a life ordered by righteousness.
See Also
External Links
- 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Psalms 1–37
- Alexander MacLaren on Psalm 35
- Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 35
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 35, pp. 406–407, and the monthly Psalter table, Seventh Day Morning Prayer; text and appointment checked against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 35, verses 1–10, p. 406; verified against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 35, verses 11–18, pp. 406–407; verified against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 35, verses 19–28, p. 407; verified against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ Alexander MacLaren, Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), p. 334, “Psalm XXXV”; Christian Classics Ethereal Library transcription.
- ↑ Alexander MacLaren, Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), pp. 334–335, “Psalm XXXV”; Christian Classics Ethereal Library transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 35, §6 (Psalm 34 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 35, §8 (Psalm 34 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.
- ↑ Alexander MacLaren, Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), p. 336, “Psalm XXXV”; Christian Classics Ethereal Library transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 35, §24 (Psalm 34 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 35, §27 (Psalm 34 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.