John Gill Commentary Psalms 35:12

"They reward me evil for good, [To] the bereaving of my soul." — Psalms 35:12 (ASV)

They rewarded me evil for good
For the good David did in killing Goliath, and slaying his ten thousands of the Philistines, and thereby saving his king and country, Saul and his courtiers envied him, and sought to slay him: so our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the good he did to the Jews, by healing their bodies of diseases, and preaching the Gospel to them for the benefit of their souls, was rewarded with reproaches and persecutions, and at last with the shameful death of the cross; and in like manner are his people used; but this is an evil that shall not go unpunished; see (Proverbs 17:13) . It is added,

[to] the spoiling of my soul ;
or "to the bereaving of it" ^F20 ; causing it to be fatherless; that is, to the bereaving it of its joy, peace, and comfort; so fatherless is put for comfortless, (John 14:18) ; or to the taking away of his soul, which being separated from the body, its companion is left alone, as one that is fatherless.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (lwkv) "orbitatem", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.