Wake up! Rise to my defense! Take up my case, my God and my Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!
- KJV Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
- BSB Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord!
- NKJV Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication, To my cause, my God and my Lord.
- NASB Stir Yourself, and awake to my right And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
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
David urgently calls God to 'wake up' and rise to his defense and plead his case. It is bold prayer rooted in covenant relationship.
Overview
The cries 'Wake up! Rise up!' are not doubts about God's attention but vivid, faith-filled urgency, asking the Judge to take up his cause. David addresses Him intimately as 'my God' and 'my Lord,' grounding the appeal in relationship. Such honest, pressing prayer is welcomed by God, who ultimately contends for His people through the righteous advocacy of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 7:6Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
- Ps 44:23Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.
- Ps 89:26He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
- Ps 59:4I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me!
- Ps 80:2Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us!
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
- Ps 142:5I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
- John 20:28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
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 35:23 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.