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Psalm 35:14

I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.

12They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.
13But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.
14I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.
15But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
16Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me.
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← Psalm 35:13Psalm 35:15 →
Notice

Mourning as though someone were your own mother shows the depth of David’s care, making the cruelty he receives in return harder to bear.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What does David’s comparison to mourning his mother show you about his care for these people?

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When has someone you treated like family responded to your distress with indifference or cruelty?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

8 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 42:5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.Both passages speak from sorrow, though Psalm 42 addresses the troubled soul while Psalm 35 describes mourning for others.
Psalm 38:6I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.Both passages describe being bowed down in mourning, showing grief through the posture of the body.
Luke 19:41–42When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,David mourns for other people, and Jesus weeps over the city; both passages describe sorrow directed beyond oneself.
2 Samuel 1:11–12Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them; and all the men who were with him did likewise.David’s bowed posture and his torn clothes express grief through bodily actions in these two passages.
Genesis 24:67Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.A mother’s death is the measure of grief in the psalm and the loss after which Isaac receives comfort.
Genesis 27:41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I …Both passages speak of mourning a parent and name a brother, though Esau’s words also carry a threat of murder.
2 Samuel 1:17–27David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his sonDavid describes his mourning in the psalm and voices a lament over Saul and Jonathan in Samuel.
Acts 16:28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”The shared thread is concern for another person: David mourns for others, while Paul urges someone not to harm himself.
Where this verse fits

Broken friendship. grief. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Check in with someone whose grief you know

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Encouragement

You may bring the hurt of unreturned care before God; David’s lament records both his grief for others and their cruelty toward him.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 35:14. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 35 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).