Psalms 35:13
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
In this verse “soul” means the person or physical self, so to humble the soul with fasting is to humble oneself by fasting. It records kindness toward enemies in their sickness, wearing sackcloth, humbling oneself with fasting, and mourning for them as deeply as one mourns for a mother. The psalm to which it belongs expresses God’s justice rather than personal disposition or desire for revenge. Prophetically it portrays Christ’s inner experience in life-and-death struggles with the enemy, revealing how He felt in suffering and temptation and how He can help those who are tempted. Afflicting the soul means fasting, since humbling the soul with fasting identifies fasting as the means of the affliction required on the day of atonement.