violence · noun, common masculine singular absolute
witnesses
עֵדֵ֣י'e.Dei
H5707
concretely · noun, common masculine plural construct
up
יְ֭קוּמוּןYe.ku.mun
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
charge
יִשְׁאָלֽוּנִיyish.'a.Lu.ni
H7592
to inquire · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
knew
יָ֝דַ֗עְתִּיya.Da'.ti
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
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 27:12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
Matthew 26:59-60 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
1 Samuel 24:9 And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
Acts 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
1 Samuel 25:10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away…
Acts 24:5-6 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect…
Acts 24:12-13 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 35:11-16
Two very wicked things David here lays to the charge of his enemies, to make good his appeal to God against them - perjury and ingratitude.
I. Perjury, Psa 35:11. When Saul would have David attainted of treason, in order to his being outlawed, perhaps he did it with the formalities of a legal prosecution, produced witnesses who swore some treasonable words or overt acts against him, and he being not present to clear himself (or, if he was, it was all the same), Saul adjudged him a traitor. This he complains of here as the highest piece of injustice imaginable: False witnesses did rise up, who would swear anything; they laid to my charge things that I knew not, nor ever thought of. See how mu…
False witnesses--literally, "Witnesses of injustice and cruelty" (compare Psa 11:5; Psa 25:19).
John Gill on Psalms 35:11
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 char…
Psalm 35:11-15
11. Violent witnesses rise up, they charge me with things which I know not. 12. They render me evil for good, to the bereaving [708] of my soul. 13. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I afflicted my soul with fasting; and have poured my prayer into my own bosom. 14. I behaved myself towards him as if he had been my friend and brother: I humbled myself as one that mourneth heavily for his mother. 15. But they rejoiced at my halting, they gathered themselves together; yea, even the abjects whom I knew not gathered themselves against me: they have torn me with their lips, and have not ceased.
11. Violent witnesses [709] rise up. The Hebrew is, they s…
The Church Fathers
The person of Christ is introduced here, denounced and falsely accused at the tribunal of the chief priests when there rose up evil witnesses against him, and they repaid evil things for good and bereavement for his soul. They were called sons of God but acted wickedly against him.
When Saul under the influence of envy, remember, suspected him of plotting a coup and for that reason maintained a state of war, the slanderers (whom he calls false "witnesses") took occasion not to desist from spreading calumny against him. Some of these were Doeg, the Ziphites, and many others in addition to them.
Let then our Head say, "False witnesses did rise up, they laid to My charge things that I knew not" [Psalm 35:11]. But let us say to our Head, Lord, what knew Thou not? Did Thou indeed know not anything? Did You not know the hearts of them that charged You? Did You not foresee their deceits? Did You not give Yourself into their hands knowingly? Had You not come that You might suffer by them? What then knew Thou not? He knew not sin, and thereby He knew not sin, not by not judging, but by not committing. There are phrases of this kind also in daily use, as when you say of any one, He knows not to stand, that is, he does not stand; and, He knows not to do good, because he does not good; and, He knows not to do ill, because he does not ill....What knew not Christ so much, as to blaspheme? Thereof was He called in question by His persecutors, and because He spoke truth, He was judged to have spoken blasphemy. [Matthew 26:65] But by whom? By them of whom it follows, "They rewarded Me evil for good, and barrenness to My Soul" [Psalm 35:12]. I gave unto them fruitfulness, they rewarded Me barrenness; I gave life, they death; I honour, they dishonour; I medicine, they wounds; and in all these which they rewarded Me, was truly barrenness. This barrenness in the tree He cursed, when seeking fruit He found none. [Matthew 21:19] Leaves there were, and fruit there was not: words there were, and deeds there were not. See of words abundance, and of deeds barrenness. "Thou that preachest a man should not steal, stealest: thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, committest adultery." [Romans 2:21-22] Such were they who charged Christ with things that He knew not.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Enemy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
False Teachers · FALSE WITNESS — FALSE WITNESS
Friends · .David’s friends were false to David — .David’s friends were false to David
Ingratitude · .David’s companions to David — .David’s companions to David
Perjury · .David — .David
Slander · Christ was exposed to — Christ was exposed to
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 second part begins with two strophes of sorrowful description of the wickedness of the enemy. The futures in Psa 35:11, Psa 35:12 describe that which at present takes place. עדי חמס are μάρτυρες ἄδικοι (lxx). They demand from him a confession of acts and things which lie entirely outside his consciousness and his way of acting (cf. Psa 69:5): they would gladly brand him as a perjurer, as an usurper, and as a plunderer. What David complains of in Psa 35:12, we hear Saul confess in Sa1 24:18; the charge of ingratitude is therefore well-grounded. שׁכול לנפשׁי is not dependent on ישׁלּמוּני, in which case one would have looked for כּשׁול rather than שׁכול, but a substantival clause: "bere…
The psalmist presents the Lord with the reasons for his suffering. Evil has many faces. He is tired and worn out, and he knows that only the Lord can help him.
35:11 Malicious witnesses want nothing but violence (see 11:4-6; 54:3).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 35:11
False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
"False witnesses did rise up." This is the old device of the ungodly, and we must not wonder if it be used against us as against our Master. To please Saul, there were always men to be found mean enough to impeach David. "they laid to my charge things that I knew not." He had not even a thought of sedition; he was loyal even to excess; yet they accused him of conspiring against the Lord's anointed. He was not only innocent, but ignorant of the fault alleged. It is well when our hands are so clean that no trace of dirt is upon them.
