properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
LORD
יְ֭הוָהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
strive
יְרִיבַ֑יye.ri.Vai
H3401
literally he will contend · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
fight
לְ֝חַ֗םle.Cham
H3898
to feed on · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
fight
לֹֽחֲמָֽיLo.cha.Mai
H3898
to feed on · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 43:1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
Jeremiah 51:36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs…
Psalms 119:154 Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word.
Isaiah 49:25 But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will co…
Proverbs 23:11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
Proverbs 22:23 For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Lamentations 3:58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
Acts 5:39 But if it be of God, ye can not overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 35:1-10
In these verses we have,
I. David's representation of his case to God, setting forth the restless rage and malice of his persecutors. He was God's servant, expressly appointed by him to be what he was, followed his guidance, and aimed at his glory in the way of duty, had lived (as St. Paul speaks) in all good conscience before God unto this day; and yet there were those that strove with him, that did their utmost to oppose his advancement, and made all the interest they could against him; they fought against him (Psa 35:1), not only undermined him closely and secretly, but openly avowed their opposition to him and set themselves to do him all the mischief they could. They persecuted him with…
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me,.... Meaning Saul and his courtiers; concerning whom he elsewhere desires that the Lord would judge between them, plead his cause, and deliver him; as he accordingly did, and maintained it, and the righteousness of it, 1 Samuel 24:12. So Christ pleaded not his own cause as man, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously; and his people leave their cause with him, who is their advocate, and is able to plead it thoroughly; and does plead it against wicked and ungodly men, who unrighteously charge them; against. Satan the accuser of the brethren, who stands at their right hand to resist them; and against their own hearts, and the…
Psalm 35:1-3
1. Plead my cause, O Jehovah! with them that plead against me; fight against them who fight against me. 2. Take the shield and the buckler, and rise up for my help. 3. Bring forth the spear, and oppose my persecutors: say unto my soul, "I am thy salvation."
1. Plead my cause, O Jehovah! As the enemies of David not only avowedly sought to take away his life, but also troubled him by calumny and misrepresentation, he pleads for the redress of both these grievances. In the first place, by appealing to God for his aid in defense of his cause, he intimates, that he has to do with wicked and maligning men. In the second place, by urging him to take up arms, he shows that he was grie…
The Church Fathers
He who conquers in war reduces the enemies to slavery: Christ has overcome the world. Hence, … all become his servants.
This statement, as has been noted, refers to the devil and his followers.… For when he gives the command, "pray for your enemies," this statement does not apply to people. Thus, he asks that they be condemned whom he knows by virtue of his foreknowledge would not come to the remedies of repentance. For in what follows, when he turns his attention to people, he desires that they be converted, not that they perish.
"Judge Thou, O Lord" (saith he), "them that hurt me, and fight Thou against them that fight against me" (ver. 1). "If God be for us, who can be against us?" And whereby doth God this for us? "Take hold" (saith he) "of arms and shield, and rise up to my help" (ver. 2). A great spectacle is it, to see God armed for thee. And what is His Shield, what are His Arms? "Lord," in another place saith the man who here also speaketh, "as with the shield of Thy good-will hast Thou compassed us." But His Arms, wherewith He may not only us defend, but also strike His enemies, if we have well profited, shall we ourselves be. For as we from Him have this, that we be armed, so is He armed from us. But He is armed from those whom He hath made, we are armed with those things which we have received from Him who made us. These our arms the Apostle in a certain place calleth, "The shield of Faith, the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." He hath armed us with such arms as ye have heard, arms admirable, and unconquered, insuperable and shining; spiritual truly and invisible, because we have to fight also against invisible enemies. If thou seest thine enemy, let thine arms be seen. We are armed with faith in those things which we see not, and we overthrow enemies whom we see not. ...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Enemy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Gnashing Of Teeth · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Strife · Saints should: Seek God’s protection from — Saints should: Seek God’s protection from
Warfare Of Saints · To be carried on: With prayer — To be carried on: With prayer
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The psalmist begins in a martial and anthropomorphical style such as we have not hitherto met with. On the ultima-accentuation of ריבה, vid., on Psa 3:8. Both את are signs of the accusative. This is a more natural rendering here, where the psalmist implores God to subjugate his foes, than to regard את as equivalent to עם (cf. Isa 49:25 with ib. Psa 27:8; Job 10:2); and, moreover, for the very same reason the expression in this instance is לחם, (in the Kal, which otherwise only lends the part. לחם, Psa 56:2., to the Niph. נלחם) instead of the reciprocal form הלּחם. It is usually supposed that לחם means properly vorare, and war is consequently conceived of as a devouring of men; but the Arabic…
Ps 35 In this lament, the Lord’s troubled servant calls for God to see his circumstances and vindicate him.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 35:1
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
"Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me." Plead against those who plead against me; strive with my strivers; contend with my contenders. If they urge their suit in the law-court, Lord, meet them there, and beat them at their own weapons. Every saint of God shall have this privilege: the accuser of the brethren shall be met by the Advocate of the saints. "Fight against them that fight against me." If my adversaries try force as well as fraud, be a match for them; oppose thy strength to their strength. Jesus does this for all his beloved—for them he is both intercessor and champion;…
