TRV
Translation
King James Version
Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Complete Jewish Bible
May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of ADONAI to drive them on.
Berean Standard Bible
May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
American Standard Version
Let them be as chaff before the wind, And the angel of Jehovah drivingthemon.
World English Bible Messianic
Let them be as chaff before the wind, The LORD’s angel driving them on.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Let them be as chaffe before the winde, and let the Angel of the Lord scatter them.
Young's Literal Translation
They are as chaff before wind, And a messenger of Jehovah driving away.
In the KJVVerse 14,416 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 35 verses 1–10
1 ¶ A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
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 an unwearied enmity, sought after his soul (Psa 35:4), that is, his life, no less would satisfy their bloody minds; they aimed to disquiet his spirit and put that into disorder. Nor was it a sudden passion against him that they harboured, but inveterate malice: They devised his hurt, laid their heads together, and set their wits on work, not only to do him a mischief, but to find out ways and means to ruin him. They treated him, who was the greatest blessing of his country, as if he had been the curse and plague of it; they hunted him as a dangerous beast of prey; they digged a pit for him and laid a net in it, that they might have him at their mercy, Psa 35:7. They took a great deal of pains in persecuting him, for they digged a pit (Psa 7:15); and very close and crafty they were in carrying on their designs; the old serpent taught them subtlety: they hid their net from David and his friends; but in vain, for they could not hide it from God. And, lastly, he found himself an unequal match for them. His enemy, especially Saul, was too strong for him (Psa 35:10), for he had the army at his command, and assumed to himself the sole power of making laws and giving judgment, attainted and condemned whom he pleased, carried not a sceptre, but a javelin, in his hand, to cast at any man that stood in his way; such was the manner of the king, and all about him were compelled to do as he bade them, right or wrong. The king's word is a law, and every thing must be carried with a high hand; he has fields, and vineyards, and preferments, at his disposal, Sa1 22:7. but David is poor and needy, has nothing to make friends with, and therefore has none to take his part but men (as we say) of broken fortunes (Sa1 22:2); and therefore no marvel that Saul spoiled him of what little he had got and the interest he had made. If the kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and his anointed, who can contend with them? Note, It is no new thing for the most righteous men, and the most righteous cause, to meet with many mighty and malicious enemies: Christ himself is striven with and fought against, and war is made upon the holy seed; and we are not to marvel at the matter: it is a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman.
II. His appeal to God concerning his integrity and the justice of his cause. If a fellow-subject had wronged him, he might have appealed to his prince, as St. Paul did to Caesar; but, when his prince wronged him, he appealed to his God, who is prince and Judge of the kings of the earth: Plead my cause, O Lord! Psa 35:1. Note, A righteous cause may, with the greatest satisfaction imaginable, he laid before a righteous God, and referred to him to give judgment upon it; for he perfectly knows the merits of it, holds the balance exactly even, and with him there is no respect of persons. God knew that they were, without cause, his enemies, and that they had, without cause, digged pits for him, Psa 35:7. Note, It will be a comfort to us, when men do us wrong, if our consciences can witness for us that we have never done them any. It was so to St. Paul. Act 25:10, To the Jews have I done no wrong. We are apt to justify our uneasiness at the injuries men do us by this, That we never gave them any cause to use us so; whereas this should, more than any thing, make us easy, for then we may the more confidently expect that God will plead our cause.
III. His prayer to God to manifest himself both for him and to him, in this trial. 1. For him. He prays that God would fight against his enemies, so as to disable them to hurt him, and defeat their designs against him (Psa 35:1), that he would take hold of shield and buckler, for the Lord is a man of war (Exo 15:3), and that he would stand up for his help (Psa 35:2), for he had few that would stand up for him, and, if he had ever so many, they would stand him in no stead without God. he prays that God would stop their way (Psa 35:3), that they might not overtake him when he fled from them. This prayer we may put up against our persecutors, that God would restrain them and stop their way. 2. To him: "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation; let me have inward comfort under all these outward troubles, to support my soul which they strike at. Let God be my salvation, not only my Saviour out of my present troubles, but my everlasting bliss. Let me have that salvation not only which he is the author of, but which consists in his favour; and let me know my interest in it; let me have the comfortable assurance of it in my own breast." If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we have enough, we need desire no more to make us happy; and this is a powerful support when men persecute us. If God be our friend, no matter who is our enemy.
IV. His prospect of the destruction of his enemies, which he prays for, not in malice or revenge. We find how patiently he bore Shimei's curses (so let him curse, for the Lord has bidden him); and we cannot suppose that he who was so meek in his conversation would give vent to any intemperate heat or passion in his devotion; but, by the spirit of prophecy, he foretells the just judgments of God that would come upon them for their great wickedness, their malice, cruelty, and perfidiousness, and especially the enmity to the counsels of God, the interests of religion, and that reformation which they knew David, if ever he had power in his hand, would be an instrument of. They seemed to be hardened in their sins, and to be of the number of those who have sinned unto death and are not to be prayed for, Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14; Jer 14:11; Jo1 5:16. As for Saul himself, David, it is probable, knew that God had rejected him and had forbidden Samuel to mourn for him, Sa1 16:1. And these predictions look further, and read the doom of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom, as appears by comparing Rom 11:9, Rom 11:10. David here prays, 1. Against his many enemies (Psa 35:4-6): Let them be confounded, etc. Or, as Dr. Hammond reads it, They shall be confounded, they shall be turned back. This may be taken as a prayer for their repentance, for all penitents are put to shame for their sins and turned back from them. Or, if they were not brought to repentance, David prays that they might be defeated and disappointed in their designs against him and so put to shame. Though they should in some degree prevail, yet he foresees that it would be to their own ruin at last: They shall be as chaff before the wind, so unable will wicked men be to stand before the judgments of God and so certainly will they be driven away by them, Psa 1:4. Their way shall be dark and slippery, darkness and slipperiness (so the margin reads it); the way of sinners is so, for they walk in darkness and in continual danger of falling into sin, into hell; and it will prove so at last, for their foot shall slide in due time, Deu 32:35. But this is not the worst of it. Even chaff before the wind may perhaps be stopped, and find a place of rest, and, though the way be dark and slippery, it is possible that a man may keep his footing; but it is here foretold that the angel of the Lord shall chase them (Psa 35:5) so that they shall find no rest, shall persecute them (Psa 35:6) so that they cannot possibly escape the pit of destruction. As God's angels encamp against those that fight against him. They are the ministers of his justice, as well as of his mercy. Those that make God their enemy make all the holy angels their enemies. 2. Against his one mighty enemy (Psa 35:8): Let destruction come upon him. It is probable that he means Saul, who laid snares for him and aimed at his destruction. David vowed that his hand should not be upon him; he would not be judge in his own cause. But, at the same time, he foretold that the Lord would smite him (Sa1 26:10), and here that the net he had hidden should catch himself, and into that very destruction he should fall. This was remarkably fulfilled in the ruin of Saul; for he had laid a plot to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines (Sa1 18:25), that was the net which he hid for him under pretence of doing him honour, and in that very net was he himself taken, for he fell by the hand of the Philistines when his day came to fall.
V. His prospect of his own deliverance, which, having committed his cause to God, he did not doubt of, Psa 35:9, Psa 35:10. 1. He hoped that he should have the comfort of it: "My soul shall be joyful, not in my own ease and safety, but in the Lord and in his favour, in his promise and in his salvation according to the promise." Joy in God and in his salvation is the only true, solid, satisfying joy. Those whose souls are sorrowful in the Lord, who sow in tears and sorrow after a godly sort, need not question but that in due time their souls shall be joyful in the Lord; for gladness is sown for them, and they shall at last enter into the joy of their Lord. 2. He promised that then God should have the glory of it (Psa 35:10): All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee? (1.) He will praise God with the whole man, with all that is within him, and with all the strength and vigour of his soul, intimated by his bones, which are within the body and are the strength of it. (2.) He will praise him as one of peerless and unparalleled perfection. We cannot express how great and good God is, and therefore must praise him by acknowledging him to be a non-such. Lord, who is like unto thee? No such patron of oppressed innocency, no such punisher of triumphant tyranny. The formation of our bones so wonderfully, so curiously (Ecc 11:5; Psa 139:16), the serviceableness of our bones, and the preservation of them, and especially the life which, at the resurrection, shall be breathed upon the dry bones and make them flourish as a herb, oblige every bone in our bodies, if it could speak, to say, Lord, who is like unto thee? and willingly to undergo any services or sufferings for him.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–10. Public domain.
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Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 35
What of others? For all are not so conquered as to be converted and believe: many continue in obstinacy, many preserve in heart the spirit of going before, and if they exert it not, yet they labour with it, and finding opportunity bring it forth. Of such, what follows? "Let them be as dust before the wind." "Not so are the ungodly, not so; but as the dust which the wind drives away from the face of the earth." The wind is temptation; the dust are the ungodly. When temptation comes, the dust is raised, it neither stands nor resists. "Let them be as dust before the wind, and let the Angel of the Lord trouble them."
CassiodorusAD 585
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 35:5
Dust is indeed an earthy yet very dry and thin substance, which cannot remain in its place when the wind blows, but is lifted into the flowing breezes. So also the desires of sinners, when they have been admonished by the inspiration of the truth, are lifted by the Lord’s help from their earthly vices and brought to the heavenly virtues. So here the desire is expressed for evil people to come to heavenly life through a blessed improvement.… This angel afflicts the converted in order that they may be brought into that blessed homeland by the gift of humility. Such affliction is a kindness, since the desire is expressed that it may present itself as a great gift.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 35:5 is a fervent imprecatory prayer by David, appealing to God for decisive divine intervention and justice against his relentless and unjust enemies. Through vivid agricultural imagery, the psalmist petitions that his adversaries be rendered utterly powerless and scattered like worthless chaff before an irresistible wind, and that the "angel of the LORD" actively pursue and defeat them. This verse encapsulates David's profound trust in God's sovereign power to vindicate the righteous and execute inescapable judgment upon the wicked, demonstrating God's active, personal involvement in defending His chosen ones.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 35:5 employs several potent literary devices to convey its message with vivid intensity. The most prominent is Simile, evident in the phrase "Let them be as chaff before the wind," which directly compares the enemies to worthless, easily dispersed husks, vividly illustrating their ultimate powerlessness and lack of substance. This simile also functions as Symbolism, where "chaff" becomes a powerful symbol for the wicked and their fleeting, insubstantial existence, contrasting sharply with the enduring nature of the righteous and God's eternal purposes. The entire verse is a prime example of Imprecation, a prayer or curse invoking divine judgment upon enemies, a common feature in the Psalms that expresses a deep trust in God's justice and a desire for righteousness to prevail. Furthermore, the mention of the "angel of the LORD" actively chasing them can be seen as a form of Theophany or Anthropomorphism, where God's active intervention is depicted through a divine messenger performing a human-like action of pursuit, emphasizing the direct, personal, and forceful nature of divine retribution.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 35:5 profoundly articulates a fundamental aspect of biblical theology: God's unwavering commitment to justice and His active, sovereign role in the affairs of humanity. It underscores the certainty of divine judgment against those who persistently oppose righteousness and persecute the innocent. While the language is strong and invokes divine wrath, it reflects a deep trust that God is not indifferent to suffering and injustice, but will ultimately vindicate His people and bring an end to evil. This verse reassures believers that their ultimate defense rests with the sovereign Lord, who will scatter the wicked and actively pursue those who stand against His purposes, ensuring that evil does not have the final word. It highlights God's character as both a loving protector and a righteous judge.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
In a world often marked by injustice, betrayal, and unprovoked hostility, Psalms 35:5 offers a powerful framework for how believers can respond when faced with opposition. It calls us not to take vengeance into our own hands, but to commit our cause to God, trusting in His perfect justice and sovereign power. While our New Testament call is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us Matthew 5:44, this psalm provides a legitimate and honest outlet for the deep pain and righteous indignation that arise from experiencing injustice. It reminds us that God sees, God knows, and God will act. Our trust should be in His ultimate vindication, knowing that those who oppose God's ways and His people will ultimately prove to be as insubstantial and fleeting as chaff before His mighty wind of judgment. This gives us comfort, patience, and perseverance, knowing that God is actively involved in defending His own, even when His intervention is not immediately visible or occurs in ways beyond our comprehension. It cultivates a posture of dependence on divine justice rather than human retaliation.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is it appropriate for believers to pray imprecatory psalms like this?
Answer: Imprecatory psalms, such as Psalm 35, express a righteous indignation against evil and a fervent appeal for God's justice. While the New Testament calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us Matthew 5:44, these psalms are not calls for personal vengeance but rather a submission to God's ultimate authority as judge. They acknowledge that only God has the right and power to execute perfect justice. For believers today, these psalms provide an honest outlet for expressing deep pain, frustration, and a longing for righteousness in a fallen world. They teach us to bring our raw emotions and desires for justice before God, while simultaneously trusting that God will bring about justice in His perfect timing and way, ultimately through Christ's return and final judgment Revelation 19:11-16. They remind us that vengeance belongs to the Lord Romans 12:19, and we are to yield our desire for retribution to Him.
Who is the "angel of the LORD" in this context?
Answer: The "angel of the LORD" (Hebrew: mal'akh Yahweh) is a unique and significant figure in the Old Testament, often understood as a special manifestation of God Himself (a theophany or Christophany), or a powerful divine agent acting with God's full authority and presence. This figure frequently appears in critical moments of Israelite history, delivering divine messages, executing judgment, and providing deliverance. Examples include the burning bush encounter with Moses Exodus 3:2, the call of Gideon Judges 6:11-12, and the destruction of the Assyrian army 2 Kings 19:35. In Psalms 35:5, the "angel of the LORD" chasing the enemies signifies God's direct, active, and irresistible intervention to pursue, scatter, and defeat those who oppose His people, demonstrating His sovereign power and unwavering commitment to justice.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 35:5, with its vivid imagery of the wicked being scattered like worthless chaff and relentlessly pursued by the "angel of the LORD," finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. While David's plea was for a temporal deliverance from earthly adversaries, Christ's mission was to deliver humanity from the ultimate enemies: sin, death, and the devil. The "chaff before the wind" imagery powerfully foreshadows the utter futility and ultimate destruction of all spiritual forces and human systems that oppose God's kingdom. Christ, through His sacrificial death on the cross and His glorious resurrection, has already triumphed over these cosmic powers, disarming them and making a public spectacle of them Colossians 2:15. He is the true "Angel of the LORD," the divine manifestation of God who actively pursues and defeats all forms of evil. His first coming inaugurated the scattering of the powers of darkness through His ministry of healing, exorcism, and teaching, establishing His kingdom. His second coming will bring the full and final realization of this judgment, as He returns as the righteous judge to separate the wheat from the chaff, casting every enemy into eternal judgment Matthew 3:12; Revelation 19:11-16. Thus, David's prayer for vindication finds its perfect answer in Christ, who not only delivers His people from all oppression but also perfectly executes God's justice against all unrighteousness, ensuring that no enemy can ultimately stand before Him.