What Does Psalm 35:10 Mean?
All my bones say, LORD, who is like you, who snatches the bowed ones from one stronger than he, the bowed ones and the needy from the one who robs him?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?THE KEY
The proof of the LORD’s uniqueness is the vulnerable being pulled from the stronger one’s grasp until even the whole body gives voice.
THE MEANING
Your whole frame bears witness as the LORD draws the poor and needy out of the grasp of the one who overpowers and strips them. Deliverance reaches so deeply that every bone joins the question: “Who is like you?”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The stronger person’s hold is not final, and the vulnerable are not beyond rescue.
THE ROOT
מַצִּיל
maṣṣîl
GROWS FROM
נצל
n-ṣ-l
To snatch away or remove from someone’s grasp.
“who snatches” in this verse is maṣṣîl. This root can describe rescuing a person and stripping away another’s possessions. Here the LORD’s deliverance is a real break in the oppressor’s hold: the vulnerable are taken out of reach.
ALSO GROWS
nāṣal: Rescue, deliver, snatch away.
נָצַל
This is the act named in the verse: the poor are pulled from the stronger one’s grasp.
wəniṣṣaltem: You will strip or plunder (Exodus 3:22).
וְנִצַּלְתֶּם
The same root can describe what a plunderer does; here it names the removal that frees the person being preyed upon.
עַצְמוֹתַי
ʿaṣmōṯay
GROWS FROM
עצם
ʿ-ṣ-m
Bone or solid substance; the related verb also means to become mighty or numerous.
עֶצֶם (ʿeṣem) can mean “bone” and, in other uses, “self” or “the very thing itself.” So “all my bones” can sound like the whole self giving testimony, while the root’s association with might echoes the verse’s contest of strength.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeṣem: Bone; also self or the very substance of something.
עֶצֶם
The bones speaking evoke more than an isolated body part: the person’s whole core bears witness.
ʿaṣūm: Mighty or numerous.
עָצוּם
This related form brings strength into the same root family, sharpening the contrast between the body’s testimony and the power of the oppressor.
עָנִי
ʿānī
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
To be bowed down or afflicted.
“the bowed ones” in this verse is ʿānī. The word points to someone brought low by affliction, not to someone of lesser worth. The verse sees this vulnerable person clearly and answers the imbalance with rescue.
ALSO GROWS
ʿānāh: Afflict or humble.
עָנָה
This verb names the pressure that leaves someone bowed down.
ʿonī: Affliction or misery.
עֳנִי
This noun gives a name to the condition carried by the עָנִי (ʿānī), the poor or afflicted one.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s power is revealed by breaking the exploiter’s hold and raising the vulnerable.
For the ravaging of the poor, for the groaning of the needy, now I rise, says the LORD; I set him in deliverance from the one who puffs at him.For he snatches those in want when they cry out, and the bowed one also, and the one who has no helper.He has pulled the mighty down from their seats, and lifted up the low. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.THE THREAD
This bowed one cries out, and the LORD hears him, and brings him out of all his narrow places.Both verses name the vulnerable person עָנִי (ʿānī, poor or afflicted). Here the bones declare who rescues; there the poor one cries and the LORD hears, linking bodily testimony with a voice met by deliverance.
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