TRV
Translation
American Standard Version
And my soul shall be joyful in Jehovah: It shall rejoice in his salvation.
World English Bible Messianic
My soul shall be joyful in the LORD. It shall rejoice in his salvation.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Then my soule shalbe ioyfull in the Lord: it shall reioyce in his saluation.
In the KJVVerse 14,420 of 31,102
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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
This then for the wicked that would hurt me: what for me? "But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord" [Psalm 35:9]; as in Him from whom it has heard, "I am your salvation;" as not seeking other riches from without; as not seeking to abound in pleasures and good things of earth; but loving freely the true Spouse, not from Him wishing to receive anything that may delight, but Him alone proposing to itself, by whom it may be delighted. For what better than God will be given unto me? God loves me: God loves you. See He has proposed to you, Ask what you will. [Matthew 7:7] If the emperor should say to you, Ask what you will, what commands, what dignities, would you burst forth with! What great things would you propose to yourself, both to receive and to bestow! When God says unto you, Ask what you will, what will you ask? Empty your mind, exert your avarice, stretch forward as far as possible, and enlarge your desire: it is not any one, but Almighty God that said, Ask what you will. If of possessions you are a lover, you will desire the whole earth, that all who are born may be your husbandmen, or your slaves. And what when you have possessed the whole earth? You will ask the sea, in which yet you can not live. In this greediness the fishes will have the better of you. But perhaps you will possess the islands. Pass over these also; ask the air although you can not fly; stretch your desire even unto the heavens, call your own the sun, the moon, and the stars, because He who made all said, Ask what you will: yet nothing will you find more precious, nothing will you find better, than Himself who made all things. Him seek, who made all things, and in Him and from Him shall you have all things which He made. All things are precious, because all are beautiful; but what more beautiful than He? Strong are they; but what stronger than He? And nothing would He give you rather than Himself. If anything better you have found, ask it. If you ask anything else, you will do wrong to Him, and harm to yourself, by preferring to Him that which He made, when He would give to you Himself who made....
"But my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation." The salvation of God is Christ: "For my eyes have seen Your salvation." [Luke 2:30]
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 35:9 serves as a profound declaration of anticipatory joy and unwavering confidence in the LORD's character and future deliverance, marking a pivotal shift within Psalm 35 from fervent lament and petition to a triumphant expression of faith. In this verse, the psalmist's entire being finds its delight and exultation in God's promised salvation and vindication, encapsulating the deep spiritual truth that genuine joy is rooted not in the absence of trouble, but in the steadfast presence and redemptive power of the Almighty, even amidst present distress.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 35:9 employs several powerful literary devices. The most prominent is Synonymous Parallelism, where the second half of the verse ("it shall rejoice in his salvation") echoes and reinforces the meaning of the first half ("And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD"). This repetition serves to intensify the declaration of joy and confidence, ensuring the reader grasps the profound nature of David's anticipated exultation. The use of "my soul" is a form of Synecdoche, where a part (the soul) represents the whole person, emphasizing that David's entire being is engaged in this joyful anticipation. Furthermore, the verse utilizes Anticipatory Language through its future tense verbs ("shall be," "shall rejoice"). This is not merely a prediction but a declaration of faith, a commitment to praise God for a deliverance that is yet to fully manifest, showcasing a deep trust in divine faithfulness.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 35:9 stands as a powerful testament to the nature of true spiritual joy, which is not contingent on circumstances but rooted in the unchangeable character and redemptive power of God. It teaches that even in the midst of profound distress and unfulfilled petitions, a believer can anchor their hope in the certainty of God's future salvation. This anticipatory praise is an act of profound faith, acknowledging God as the ultimate source of deliverance and vindication. The psalmist's joy is not merely about salvation, but in the LORD Himself, whose very being is the fount of all true delight. This theological truth liberates believers from circumstantial happiness, inviting them into a deeper, more resilient joy found in communion with the Almighty.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 35:9 offers a profound model for believers navigating the trials and injustices of life. It challenges us to cultivate a joy that transcends our immediate circumstances, a joy deeply rooted in the unchanging character and promised deliverance of God Himself. In a world where happiness is often fleeting and dependent on external conditions, David's declaration calls us to fix our gaze on the LORD, recognizing Him as the ultimate source of our delight and salvation. This verse encourages us to move beyond mere lament and to embrace anticipatory praise, declaring our confidence in God's faithfulness even before we see the full manifestation of His intervention. It's an invitation to trust that God will contend for us, vindicate us, and ultimately bring about His salvation, transforming our present distress into future exultation. This active, faith-filled posture not only strengthens our spirit but also serves as a powerful testimony to God's sovereignty and goodness in the face of adversity.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does it mean for my "soul" to be joyful in the LORD?
Answer: When the psalmist speaks of "my soul" (Hebrew: nephesh), he is referring to his entire inner being—his mind, will, emotions, and very life force. So, for the soul to be joyful in the LORD means that David's deepest core, his whole person, finds its ultimate delight, satisfaction, and exultation not in external circumstances or human achievements, but in the person, character, and faithfulness of Yahweh Himself. It's a holistic, spiritual joy that transcends the fleeting nature of worldly happiness, rooted in a personal relationship with the covenant-keeping God. This joy is not merely intellectual assent but a profound, experiential gladness that permeates one's entire existence, even amidst adversity.
How can I rejoice in God's salvation when I'm still experiencing trouble or waiting for deliverance?
Answer: Psalms 35:9 exemplifies anticipatory praise, a powerful act of faith. It's not about denying your present pain but about declaring a future reality based on God's proven character and promises. You can rejoice in God's salvation in several ways:
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
David's anticipatory joy in God's "salvation" in Psalms 35:9 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew word for "salvation" (yᵉshûwʻâh) is the very root from which the name "Jesus" (Yeshua) is derived, signifying that He is the embodiment of God's saving power. While David longed for deliverance from earthly enemies and vindication, the New Testament reveals that true and eternal salvation is deliverance from sin, death, and the power of evil through Christ's atoning sacrifice and glorious resurrection. The joy David anticipated in a future, earthly deliverance is fully realized for believers in the finished work of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!. Our souls are now truly "joyful in the LORD" because we have been reconciled to God through Christ (e.g., Romans 5:11). The Christian's joy is not merely a hope for future rescue, but a present reality rooted in the accomplished fact of Christ's victory, enabling us to "rejoice in the Lord always" (e.g., Philippians 4:4). This deep, abiding joy is a fruit of the Spirit (e.g., Galatians 5:22), a divine gift that transcends all earthly circumstances because our ultimate salvation is secured in Christ, the one who brings eternal joy and deliverance from all spiritual adversaries (e.g., John 16:22).