Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
The phrase translated as in their hearts employs the Hebrew word for soul to mean the person himself. It is a plea that adversaries not say inwardly that they have obtained what they desired. It is also a plea that they not celebrate the speaker's defeat or claim to have destroyed him and swallowed him up.
Psalm 35 begins with a sense of great need and ends with triumph and confidence in God. The request reflects God's justice rather than a personal disposition or desire for revenge. Psalm 35 is a prophecy in which David felt and pictured Christ's inner experience in his struggles with the enemy. Read in that light, the verse belongs to that prophetic picture of his suffering and gives insight into what Christ endured beyond the triumphant events described in the Gospels.
The phrase translated as in their hearts employs the Hebrew word for soul to mean the person himself. It is a plea that adversaries not say inwardly that they have obtained what they desired. It is also a plea that they not celebrate the speaker's defeat or claim to have destroyed him and swallowed him up.
Psalm 35 begins with a sense of great need and ends with triumph and confidence in God. The request reflects God's justice rather than a personal disposition or desire for revenge. Psalm 35 is a prophecy in which David felt and pictured Christ's inner experience in his struggles with the enemy. Read in that light, the verse belongs to that prophetic picture of his suffering and gives insight into what Christ endured beyond the triumphant events described in the Gospels.