11 Malicious[1] witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know. 12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.[2] 13 But I, when they were sick-- I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed[3] on my chest. 14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning. 15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; 16 like profane mockers at a feast,[4] they gnash at me with their teeth.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 35:11-16
Commentary on Psalm 35:11-16
(Read Psalm 35:11-16)
Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse: this was the character of David's enemies. Herein he was a type of Christ. David shows how tenderly he had behaved towards them in afflictions. We ought to mourn for the sins of those who do not mourn for themselves. We shall not lose by the good offices we do to any, how ungrateful soever they may be. Let us learn to possess our souls in patience and meekness like David, or rather after Christ's example.