Parallel Verses English Standard Version Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction! King James Bible Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. American Standard Version Let destruction come upon him unawares; And let his net that he hath hid catch himself: With destruction let him fall therein. Douay-Rheims Bible Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him : and let the net which he hath hidden catch him : and let the net which he hath hidden catch him : and into that very snare let them fall. English Revised Version Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: with destruction let him fall therein. Webster's Bible Translation Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. Psalm 35:8 Parallel Commentary Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old TestamentThe psalmist begins in a martial and anthropomorphical style such as we have not hitherto met with. On the ultima-accentuation of ריבה, vid., on Psalm 3:8. Both את are signs of the accusative. This is a more natural rendering here, where the psalmist implores God to subjugate his foes, than to regard את as equivalent to עם (cf. Isaiah 49:25 with ib. Psalm 27:8; Job 10:2); and, moreover, for the very same reason the expression in this instance is לחם, (in the Kal, which otherwise only lends the part. לחם, Psalm 56:2., to the Niph. נלחם) instead of the reciprocal form הלּחם. It is usually supposed that לחם means properly vorare, and war is consequently conceived of as a devouring of men; but the Arabic offers another primary meaning: to press close and compact (Niph. to one another), consequently מלחמה means a dense crowd, a dense bustle and tumult (cf. the Homeric κλόνος). The summons to Jahve to arm, and that in a twofold manner, viz., with the מגן for warding off the hostile blow and צנּה (vid., Psalm 5:13) which covers the body like a testudo - by which, inasmuch as it is impossible to hold both shields at the same time, the figure is idealised - is meant to express, that He is to make Himself felt by the foes, in every possible way, to their own confounding, as the unapproachable One. The ב of בּעזרתי (in the character of help turned towards me) is the so-called Beth essentiae, (Note: The Hebrew Beth essentiae is used much more freely and extensively than the Arabic, which is joined exclusively to the predicate of a simple clause, where in our language the verb is "to be," and as a rule only to the predicate of negative clauses: laisa bi-hakı̂mim, he is not wise, or laisa bi-l-hakı̂mi, he is not the wise man. The predicate can accordingly be indeterminate or determinate. Moreover, in Hebrew, where this ב is found with the predicate, with the complement of the subject, or even, though only as a solecism (vid., Gesenius' Thesaurus p. 175), with the subject itself, the word to which it is prefixed may be determinate, whether as an attribute determined by itself (Exodus 6:3, בּאל שׁדּי), by a suffix (as above, Psalm 35:2, cf. Psalm 146:5; Exodus 18:4; Proverbs 3:26), or even by the article. At all events no syntactic objection can be brought against the interpretations of בעשׁן, "in the quality of smoke," Psalm 37:20; cf. בּהבל, Psalm 78:33, and of בּנּפשׁ, "in the character of the soul," Leviticus 17:11.) as in Exodus 18:4; Proverbs 3:26; Isaiah 48:10 (tanquam argentum), and frequently. הריק has the same meaning as in Exodus 15:9, cf. Genesis 14:14, viz., to bring forth, draw forth, to draw or unsheath (a sword); for as a sword is sheathed when not in use, so a spear is kept in the δουροδόκη (Odyss. i. 128). Even Parchon understands סגר to mean a weapon; and the word σάγαρις, in Herodotus, Xenophon, and Strabo, a northern Asiatic, more especially a Scythian, battle-axe, has been compared here; (Note: Probably one and the same word with the Armenian sakr, to which are assigned the (Italian) meanings mannaja, scure, brando ferro, in Ciakciak's Armenian Lexicon; cf. Lagarde's Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 1866, S. 203.) but the battle-axe was not a Hebrew weapon, and סגר, which, thus defectively written, has the look of an imperative, also gives the best sense when so taken (lxx σύγκλεισον, Targ. וּטרוק), viz., close, i.e., cut off, interclude scil. viam. The word has Dech, because לקראת רדפי, "casting Thyself against my persecutors," belongs to both the preceding summonses. Dachselt rightly directs attention to the similar sequence of the accents in Psalm 55:19; Psalm 66:15. The Mosaic figure of Jahve as a man of war (אישׁ מלחמה, Exodus 15:3; Deuteronomy 32:41.) is worked out here with brilliant colours, under the impulse of a wrathful spirit. But we see from Psalm 35:3 what a spiritual meaning, nevertheless, the whole description is intended to convey. In God's intervention, thus manifested in facts, he would gladly hear His consolatory utterance to himself. The burden of his cry is that God's love may break through the present outward appearance of wrath and make itself felt by him. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge Let destruction. All the verbs in these verses (4-8) in the original, are in the future tense, as a prediction, and should probably be so rendered, though as that tense is frequently used in Hebrew for the imperative, most translators, both ancient and modern, have considered them as an imprecation Psalm 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. Psalm 73:18-20 Surely you did set them in slippery places: you cast them down into destruction... at unawares [heb.] which he knoweth not of Psalm 7:15,16 He made a pit, and dig it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made... into Cross References 1 Thessalonians 5:3 While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh. Psalm 9:15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. Psalm 55:23 But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you. Psalm 73:18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. Psalm 141:10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. Isaiah 47:11 But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. 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