Psalm 57:6

6 They have prepared snares for my feet, and have bowed down my soul: they have dug a pit before my face, and fallen into it themselves. Pause.

Psalm 57:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 57:6

They have prepared a net for my steps
They laid snares for him, as the fowler does for the bird, in order to take him. It denotes the insidious ways used by Saul and his men to get David into their hands; so the Pharisees consulted together how they might entangle Christ in his talk, ( Matthew 22:15 ) ;

my soul is bowed down;
dejected by reason of his numerous enemies, and the crafty methods they took to ensnare and ruin him; so the soul of Christ was bowed down with the sins of his people, and with a sense of divine wrath because of them; and so their souls are often bowed down; or they are dejected in their spirits, on account of sin, Satan's temptations, various afflictions, and divine desertions. The Targum renders it,

``he bowed down my soul;''

that is, the enemy; Saul in particular. The Septuagint, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, "they bowed down my soul"; the same that prepared a net for his steps; everyone of his enemies; they all were the cause of the dejection of his soul: the Syriac version leaves out the clause;

they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are
fallen [themselves];
contriving and seeking to find out the places where David's haunt was, Saul got into the very cave where he and his men were; and had his skirt cut off, when his life might as easily have been taken away, ( 1 Samuel 23:22 1 Samuel 23:23 ) ( 1 Samuel 24:3 1 Samuel 24:4 ) . See ( Psalms 7:15 Psalms 7:16 ) ( 9:15 ) .

Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).

Psalm 57:6 In-Context

4 and he has delivered my soul from the midst of lions’whelps: I lay down to sleep, though troubled. As for the sons of men, their teeth are arms and missile weapons, and their tongue a sharp sword.

5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; and thy glory above all the earth.

6 They have prepared snares for my feet, and have bowed down my soul: they have dug a pit before my face, and fallen into it themselves. Pause.

7 My heart, O God, is ready, my heart is ready: I will sing, yea will sing psalms.

8 Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I will awake early.