Psalm 35:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!”

NIV: They sneer at me and say, 'Aha! Aha! With our own eyes we have seen it.'

NASB: They opened their mouth wide against me; They said, 'Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it!'

CSB: They open their mouths wide against me and say, "Aha, aha! We saw it! "

NLT: They shout, 'Aha! Aha! With our own eyes we saw him do it!'

KJV: Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

NKJV: They also opened their mouth wide against me, And said, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it.”

David's enemies lied and invented false accusations (Psalm 35:11–16). They claimed to have seen him commit a crime or moral failure. The word translated "aha!" is he'āh' and is used for emphasis (Psalm 35:25), much like a modern person making a sarcastic laughing sound. In this case, the liars who attack David say something to the effect of "Hah! We saw him do it!" Of course, they saw no such thing.

These wicked slanderers resemble the false witnesses who testified against Jesus. They, too, were deceitful and depraved (Proverbs 6:16–19). Those who make up lies to harm others follow the lead of the Devil (Exodus 20:16). The religious leaders who plotted to kill Jesus thought of themselves as children of Abraham, founder of the Hebrew people. Jesus corrected them, saying, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

Revelation 21:8 places "liar" in the category of sins which marks an unbeliever. A person whose life is characterized by dishonesty or deception—and especially with slander of others—proves they live in opposition to God and His will. The same fate is ascribed to those defined as cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, and idolaters; all of whom will be in the lake of fire.

Psalm 35:19–28 is the last of three phases of this psalm, each expressing variations of the same basic themes. David pleads with the Lord for vindication. He prays for deliverance from his enemies, asking God to put them to shame. The psalm concludes with a call for those who support David to rejoice, and to worship God. David promises to constantly praise and honor the Lord.

This is one of the "imprecatory psalms," which call on God to immediately judge or destroy His enemies. David echoes the same ideas in three phases. Each segment includes a plea for rescue, a request for God to conquer David's foes, and a promise to praise the Lord. David makes a point of noting that his enemies have no good reason for their hatred, since he was kind to them. With faith, David looks ahead, trusting he will have the opportunity to worship the Lord for His rescue and vindication.

David pleads with the Lord to destroy his enemies and vindicate him. As such, Psalm 35 is labeled an "imprecatory psalm." Other examples include psalms 5, 69, 109, and 140. This song might have been written when King Saul was seeking David's life (1 Samuel 19:1–2), or when Absalom was spreading rebellion in Israel (2 Samuel 15:13–14). David' notes three basic ideas in this psalm: vindication, defeat of enemies, and praise of God. Each is repeated in a series of three variations.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.