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Psalm 35:7
For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
5Let them be as chaff before the wind, the LORD’s angel driving them on.
6Let their way be dark and slippery, the LORD’s angel pursuing them.
7For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
8Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction.
9My soul shall be joyful in the LORD. It shall rejoice in his salvation.
Notice
The hidden net and repeated “without cause” make the injustice stark within a prayer asking God for the attackers’ destruction.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does repeating “without cause” add to the speaker’s account of the threat?
Write on thisWhat situation, if any, comes to mind when you read about the hidden net?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 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
John 15:25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’Jesus speaks of hatred without a cause, sharing the psalm’s insistence that the hostility was unprovoked.
Psalm 140:5The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.Both speakers describe enemies hiding a net, portraying harm as a trap prepared in secret.
Psalm 109:4In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.Both speakers protest undeserved hostility; Psalm 109 makes the injustice concrete by describing adversaries responding to love.
Jeremiah 18:20Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from …Both describe enemies digging a pit for the speaker’s soul; Jeremiah adds that he had pleaded for their good.
Psalm 119:85The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.Both speakers describe pits dug for them, with Psalm 119 naming the trap-makers’ actions as contrary to God’s law.
Psalm 9:15The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.Both passages name a hidden net and a pit; Psalm 9 describes the trap-makers caught in their own devices.
Job 18:8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.Both passages use a net to describe danger, though Job’s line describes someone entering it through his own steps.
Lamentations 3:52They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.Both speakers insist their enemies act without cause, using hunting imagery to describe the threat.
1 Samuel 26:18He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand?David’s question about what evil he has done echoes the psalm’s protest that the threat comes without cause.
Genesis 37:24and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.Both passages feature a pit used against someone: a hidden trap in the psalm and an actual confinement in Genesis.
1 Samuel 24:11Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe and didn’t kill you, know and see that …Both passages describe David facing a threat to his life while insisting he has given his pursuer no cause.
Proverbs 1:11If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lie in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.Both describe concealed plans to harm someone without cause; Proverbs makes the plot explicit as an ambush for innocent blood.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Unprovoked harm can be named before God without softening its danger. The speaker brings the hidden trap into his prayer; his protest has a place before God.
Now put it in your words.
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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).