Psalms 56:6

6 They come together to spy on me— watching my every step, eager to kill me.

Psalms 56:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 56:6

They gather themselves together
And meet in some one place, to contrive ways and means to do hurt, and then assemble together again to put them in execution; as did the Jews with respect to Christ, ( Matthew 26:3 Matthew 26:4 ) ( Acts 4:27 Acts 4:28 ) . Aben Ezra supposes a various reading without any reason; and that, instead of (wrwgy) which Jarchi renders "they lodge", and the Septuagint, and the versions following that, "they sojourn", it should be read (wdwgy) , "they assemble in troops": because they were many: but the sense is, "they stay" ^F24, or continue in some certain place:

they hide themselves;
the Targum adds, "in ambush": they lay in wait, and caused others to lie in wait for him, in order to take him; as did Saul and his men, and the servants of the king of Gath;

they mark my steps;
they observed where he went, that they might seize him; or they observed his heels, as the old serpent did the Messiah's, that he might bruise them; or they watched for his halting, as Jeremiah's familiars did for his;

when they wait for my soul;
to take away his life, to destroy him; see ( Psalms 119:95 ) ; they wanted not a will to do it, they only waited for an opportunity. The Targum is,

``as they waited, they did to my soul:''

or rather, "after they had hoped for my soul" ^F25: when they had entertained hopes of taking him, this animated them to do the above things.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 "Commorabuntur", Montanus; "simul ipsi morantur", Vatablus; so Gussetius, p. 166.
F25 Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 361.

Psalms 56:6 In-Context

4 I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?

5 They are always twisting what I say; they spend their days plotting to harm me.

6 They come together to spy on me— watching my every step, eager to kill me.

7 Don’t let them get away with their wickedness; in your anger, O God, bring them down.

8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.