Malicious witnesses testify against me. They accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.
Parallel translations
- WEB Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
- KJV False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
- BSB Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
- NKJV Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know.
- NASB Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
False witnesses rise up against David, questioning him about things he knows nothing of.
Overview
David laments the injustice of malicious witnesses accusing him falsely. The legal language highlights the wrongful nature of his persecution. Such false accusation anticipates Christ, against whom false witnesses testified at his trial.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.
- Matt 26:59–60Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death;
- Acts 6:13and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
- 1 Sam 24:9David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you?’
- Acts 24:5–6For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
- 1 Sam 25:10Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.
- Acts 24:12–13In the temple they didn’t find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the synagogues, or in the city.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 35:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.