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
John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Psalms 140:5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.
Psalms 9:15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Psalms 25:3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Psalms 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are might…
Psalms 7:3-5 O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
Psalms 119:85 The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
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…
net in a pit--or, "pit of their net"--or, "net-pit," as "holy hill" for "hill of holiness" (Psa 2:6); a figure from hunting (Psa 7:15). Their imprecations on impenitent rebels against God need no vindication; His justice and wrath are for such; His mercy for penitents. Compare Psa 7:16; Psa 11:5, on the peculiar fate of the wicked here noticed.
John Gill on Psalms 35:7
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,.... This is said in allusion to the custom of digging pits, and putting nets into them, for the catching of wild beasts; and covering them with straw or dust, or such like things, as Jarchi observes, that they might not be discerned; and which intends the secret and crafty methods taken by David's enemies to ensnare him and destroy him; though he had given them no cause to use him in such a manner; which is an aggravation of their sins, and a reason of the above imprecations, as well as of what follows: and in the same manner, and without any just cause, Christ and his members have been treated by wicked men, and therefore their damn…
Psalm 35:4-7
4. Let those who seek my soul be confounded and put to shame; and let those who devise my hurt be turned back, and brought to confusion. 5. Let them be as chaff before the wind, and let the angel of Jehovah thrust [or impel] them. [705] 6. Let their way be darkness and slipperiness, and let the angel of Jehovah pursue them. 7. For they have hid for me without cause their net in a pit, without cause they have digged a pit [706] for my soul.
4. Let those who seek my soul be confounded. David now calls upon God to take vengeance upon his enemies; and he asks not only that he would disappoint and destroy their designs, but also that he would recompense them according to their dese…
The Church Fathers
But wherefore these so great evils? By what desert? Hear by what desert. "For without cause have they hid for me the corruption of their trap" (ver. 7). For Him that is our Head, observe, the Jews did this: they hid the corruption of their trap. For whom hid they their trap? For Him who saw the hearts of those that hid. But yet was He among them like one ignorant, as though He were deceived, whereas they were in that deceived, that they thought Him to be deceived. For therefore was He as though deceived, living among them, because we among such as they were so to live, as to be without doubt deceived. He saw His betrayer, and chose him the more to a necessary work. By his evil He wrought a great good: and yet among the twelve was he chosen, lest even the small number of twelve should be without one evil. This was an example of patience to us, because it was necessary that we should live among the evil: it was necessary that we should endure the evil, either knowing them or knowing them not: an example of patience He gave thee lest thou shouldest fail, when thou hast begun to live among the evil. And because that School of Christ in the twelve failed not, how much more ought we to be firm, when in the great Church is fulfilled what was predicted of the mixture of the evil. ...But yet what is to be done? "Without a cause have they hid for me the corruption of their trap." What meaneth, "Without a cause"? I have done them no evil, I have hurt them not at all. "Vainly have they reviled my soul." What is, "Vainly"? Speaking falsely, proving nothing.
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
Net · Hid — Hid
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).
Psa 35:7 also needs re-organising, just as in Psa 35:5. the original positions of דחה and רדפס are exchanged. שׁחת רשׁתּם would be a pit deceptively covered over with a net concealed below; but, as even some of the older critics have felt, שׁחת is without doubt to be brought down from Psa 35:7 into Psa 35:7: without cause, i.e., without any provocation on my part, have they secretly laid their net for me (as in Psa 9:16; Psa 31:5), without cause have they digged a pit for my soul. In Psa 35:8 the foes are treated of collectively. לא ידע is a negative circumstantial clause (Ew. 341, b): improviso, as in Pro 5:6; Isa 47:11 extrem. Instead of תּלכּדנּוּ the expression is תּלכּדוּ, as in Hos 8:3…
A path that is dark and slippery suggests instability and untimely doom under the Lord’s judgment (see 69:23; 73:18; 82:5; 107:10; 143:3). • The angel of the Lord is an agent of judgment as well as salvation.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 35:7
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
In this verse the Psalmist brings forward the gravamen of his charge against the servants of the devil. "For without cause"— without my having injured, assailed, or provoked them; out of their own spontaneous malice "have they hid for me their net in a pit, " even as men hunt for their game with cunning and deception. Innocent persons have often been ruined by traps set for them, into which they have fallen as guilelessly as beasts which stumble into concealed pits, and are taken as in a net. It is no little thing to be able to feel that the enmity which assails us is undeserved—unca…
