Psalm 35:19 asks that those who hate the psalmist "without cause" not triumph over him. David describes hostility that is undeserved rather than punishment resulting from wrongdoing. This motif of the innocent righteous sufferer recurs in several psalms.

John 15:25 explicitly connects this language with Jesus. Speaking of the world's hatred toward Him, Jesus says that this happened so that the word written in their Law might be fulfilled: "They hated me without a cause." The wording also appears in Psalm 69:4, so the precise psalm intended may encompass this broader scriptural motif. In either case, Jesus identifies His unjust rejection with the psalmic righteous sufferer and declares that such causeless hatred fulfills Scripture.