Psalms 35:11–18
They repay my kindness with malice and mock my suffering, though I mourned for them; Lord, how long will You watch? Rescue me so I can praise You in the assembly.
11 Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
12 They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.
15 But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
16 Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me.
17 Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly. I will praise you among many people.
They repay my kindness with malice and mock my suffering, though I mourned for them; Lord, how long will You watch? Rescue me so I can praise You in the assembly.
To lament the social and ethical betrayal of the psalmist by those he once treated with kindness and to appeal for divine intervention from malicious and mocking enemies.
The LORD Contends for His Servant Against Malicious Enemies
When the righteous servant is attacked without cause and repaid evil for good, faith brings the whole case before the LORD, trusting Him to contend, rescue, vindicate, and turn deliverance into public praise.