Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 56:5
Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts [are] against me for evil.
5. From the heights of faith he returns to the urgent reality of present distress. Cp. Psa 42:6.
Every day ] R.V., all the day long.
they wrest my words ] Distorting and perverting them. Calumniators endeavoured to poison Saul’s mind against David, 1Sa 24:9, cp. Psa 7:3 ff. But the meaning is somewhat doubtful. It may be, they pervert my affairs, i.e. injure my interests.
all their thoughts &c.] Cp. Psa 41:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5 11. The second division of the Psalm is similar to the first: a description of present distress, and prayer for help, followed by an expression of perfect confidence in God’s protection.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Every day they wrest my words – The word here rendered wrest, means literally to give pain, to grieve, to afflict; and it is used here in the sense of wresting, as if force were applied to words; that is, they are tortured, twisted, perverted. We have the same use of the word torture in our language. This they did by affixing a meaning to his words which he never intended, so as to injure him.
All their thoughts are against me for evil – All their plans, devices, purposes. They never seek my good, but always seek to do me harm.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Every day they wrest my words] They have been spies on my conduct continually; they collected all my sayings, and wrested my words out of their proper sense and meaning, to make them, by inuendos, speak treason against Saul. They are full of evil purposes against me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They wrest my words; they misconstrue and pervert my most innocent expressions, and turn them into matter of calumny, wherewith they may incense Saul against me. Or, they perplex my affairs. All their thoughts are against me for evil; it is their whole study to do me mischief.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5, 6. A vivid picture of theconduct of malicious enemies.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Every day they wrest my words,…. Form, fashion, and shape them at their pleasure; construe them, and put what sense upon them they think fit. The word u is used of the formation of the human body, in Job 10:8; They put his words upon the rack, and made them speak what he never intended; as some men wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction, 2Pe 3:16; and as the Jews wrested the words of Christ, Joh 2:19. The word has also the sense of causing vexation and grief, Isa 63:10; and so it may be rendered here, “my words cause grief” w; to his enemies; because he had said, in the preceding verses, that he would trust in the Lord, and praise his word, and not be afraid of men; just as the Sadducees were grieved at the apostles preaching, through Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, Ac 4:1. Or they caused grief to himself; for because of these his enemies reproached him, cursed him, and distressed him. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin render it, “they cursed my words”; or despised them, as the Ethiopic and Arabic versions:
all their thoughts [are] against me for evil; their counsels, schemes, and contrivances, were all formed to do him all the hurt and mischief they could.
u “fingunt mea verba”, Cocceius, Gusset. p. 628. “They painfully form and frame my words”, Ainsworth. w “Dolore afficient”, Montanus, Gejerus, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This second strophe describes the adversaries, and ends in imprecation, the fire of anger being kindled against them. Hitzig’s rendering is: “All the time they are injuring my concerns,” i.e., injuring my interests. This also sounds unpoetical. Just as we say , to do violence to the Tra (Zep 3:4; Eze 22:26), so we can also say: to torture any one’s words, i.e., his utterances concerning himself, viz., by misconstruing and twisting them. It is no good to David that he asseverates his innocence, that he asserts his filial faithfulness to Saul, God’s anointed; they stretch his testimony concerning himself upon the rack, forcing upon it a false meaning and wrong inferences. They band themselves together, they place men in ambush. The verb signifies sometimes to turn aside, turn in, dwell (= Arab. jar ); sometimes, to be afraid (= , Arab. wjr ); sometimes, to stir up, excite, Psa 140:3 (= ); and sometimes, as here, and in Psa 59:4, Isa 54:15: to gather together (= ). The Ker reads (as in Psa 10:8; Pro 1:11), but the scriptio plena points to Hiph. (cf. Job 24:6, and also Psa 126:5), and the following leads one to the conclusion that it is the causative that is intended: they cause one to keep watch in concealment, they lay an ambush (synon. , 1Sa 15:5); so that refers to the liers-in-wait told off by them: as to these – they observe my heels or (like the feminine plural in Psa 77:20; Psa 89:52) footprints (Rashi: mes traces ), i.e., all my footsteps or movements, because (properly, “in accordance with this, that,” as in Mic 3:4) they now as formerly (which is implied in the perfect, cf. Psa 59:4) attempt my life, i.e., strive after, lie in wait for it ( like , Psa 71:10, with the accusative = in Psa 119:95). To this circumstantial representation of their hostile proceedings is appended the clause , which is not to be understood otherwise than as a question, and is marked as such by the order of the words (2Ki 5:26; Isa 28:28): In spite of iniquity [ is there ] escape for them? i.e., shall they, the liers-in-wait, notwithstanding such evil good-for-nothing mode of action, escape? At any rate is, as in Psa 32:7, a substantivized finitive, and the “by no means” which belongs as answer to this question passes over forthwith into the prayer for the overthrow of the evil ones. This is the customary interpretation since Kimchi’s day. Mendelssohn explains it differently: “In vain be their escape,” following Aben-Jachja, who, however, like Saadia, takes to be imperative. Certainly adverbial notions are expressed by means of , – e.g., ,. , abundantly, Psa 31:24; , falsely, Lev. 5:22 (vid., Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 1028), – but one does not say , and consequently also would hardly have said (by no means, for nothing, in vain); moreover the connection here demands the prevailing ethical notion for . Hupfeld alters to , and renders it: “recompense to them for wickedness,” which is not only critically improbable, but even contrary to the usage of the language, since signifies to weigh out, but not to requite, and requires the accusative of the object. The widening of the circle of vision to the whole of the hostile world is rightly explained by Hengstenberg by the fact that the special execution of judgment on the part of God is only an outflow of His more general and comprehensive execution of judgment, and the belief in the former has its root in a belief in the latter. The meaning of becomes manifest from the preceding Psalm (Ps 55:24), to which the Psalm before us is appended by reason of manifold and closely allied relation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
5 Every day my words vex me The first part of this verse has been variously rendered. Some understand my words to be the nominative in the sentence, and with these I agree in opinion. Others suppose a reference to the enemies of David, and translate, they calumniate my words, or, they cause me grief on account of my words. Again, יעצבו, yeatsebu, has been taken in the neuter sense, and translated, my words are troublesome. But עצב (332), atsab, commonly signifies to afflict with grief, and in Pihel is always taken transitively; nor does there seem any reason in this place to depart from the general rule of the language. And the passage flows more naturally when rendered, my words affect me with grief, or vex me, than by supposing that he refers to his enemies. According to this translation, the verse contains a double complaint, that, on the one hand, he was himself unsuccessful in everything which he attempted, his plans having still issued in vexatious failure; while, on the other hand, his enemies were devising every means for his destruction. It may appear at first sight rather inconsistent to suppose that he should immediately before have disclaimed being under the influence of fear, and now acknowledge that he was not only distressed, but in some measure the author of his own discomfort. I have already observed, however, that he is not to be considered as having been absolutely divested of anxiety and fear, although enabled to look down with contempt upon his enemies from the eminence of faith. Here he speaks of the circumstances which tried him, which his faith certainly overcame, but at the same time could not altogether remove out of the way. He confesses his own lack of wisdom and foresight, shown in the abortive issue of every plan which he devised. It aggravated the evil, that his enemies were employing their united counsels to plot his ruin. He adds, that they gathered themselves together; and this made his case the more calamitous, matched as he was, a single individual, against this numerous host. In mentioning that they hide themselves, he adverts to the subtile devices which they framed for surprising him into destruction. The verb יצפינו, yitsponu, by grammatical rule ought to have the letter ו, vau, in the middle; from which the general opinion is, that the י yod, is as it were the mark of Hiphil, denoting that the enemies of David came to the determination of employing an ambush, with the view of surrounding him. He tells us that they pressed upon him in every direction, and as it were trod upon his heels, so that he had no respite. And he points at their implacable hatred as the cause of their eager pursuit of him; for nothing, he informs us, would satisfy them but his death.
(332) Horsley observes, that the primary meaning of the verb עצב, atsab, is “perhaps to do a thing with great labor, to take pains about it; if, indeed, its primary meaning be not to distort Hence it may signify to affect the mind with any unpleasing passion or sensation, grief, vexation, anger; for every perturbation is a sort of distortion of the mind. רברי יעצבו עלי — ‘ torquent contra me verba mea,’ — ‘ torquent, i e. , labouriose fingunt in mentem alienam et sensum alienum.’ — Pagninus after Aben Ezra and R.D.” — Horsley Hammond, after stating that עזב, atsab, signifies primarily to grieve, or be in pain, and that by metonomy it is used for the laborious framing or forming of any thing, says, “Here, being applied to another’s words or speeches, it seems to denote the depraving them, laboring and using great art and diligence to put them into such a form as may be most for the disadvantage of the speaker, turning and winding them to his hurt, in putting some odious gloss upon them, and so, according to sense, may most fully be rendered depraving. ”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Wrest.Properly, afflict; and so some, injure my cause. But torture my words is intelligible.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. They wrest my words The word rendered “wrest,” means, fashion, shape; they shape my words to suit their purposes. The text implies that David had entered a defence of the innocent object of his visit, perhaps at different times, and as they were deficient in facts to convict him they sought occasion by torturing his language. Their thoughts Their devices.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘All day long they wrest my words,
All their thoughts are against me for evil.’
So now that he is in Philistine territory David finds that he has not escaped from trouble. It still dogs him ‘all day long’. The Philistines are suspicious of this Israelite fugitive who has come among them, and they are questioning him and twisting his words. It is quite clear that they intend trouble against him. Their thoughts are against him. They are for evil and not for good.
Psa 56:6
‘They gather themselves together,
They hide themselves,
They mark my steps,
Even as they have waited for my life.’
A group of Philistines have apparently got together. They are watching him continually. They try to remain unobserved, although to no avail, and they watch his every step. It is quite clear that they bode no good, and are waiting for his life. He had escaped from Saul only to find himself pursued by the Philistines. If at this stage they were already fairly sure that he was David, one of Saul’s most successful commanders (1 Samuel 21:21-22), we can understand why they were suspicious. But it seems that they were not absolutely sure of their ground. Later they would detain him and bring him before Achish, one of the five Philistine Rulers (1Sa 21:14), but by this time David, aware of his great danger, had begun to feign madness so that Achish dismissed him in contempt.
Psa 56:7
‘Will they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.’
In David’s eyes these men are accountable to God, and what they are planning is iniquitous. He feels that as a fugitive (and as the anointed of YHWH) he deserves consideration, and that all they are doing is make things worse for him. He had come in good faith and sought refuge among them. Did they think that they could escape any threat that he posed by failing to show hospitality and doing him harm? Was he not only one among many? To David’s pure soul this was not acceptable conduct, it was inexcusable (it was the opposite of what he would have done). And he calls on God in His anger against their perfidy to ‘cast down the peoples’, that is, all who are causing him trouble, whether Israelite or Canaanite or Philistine, and all who are like them. At present he sees the whole world as against him. Everyone has proved to be his enemy.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Description Of His Enemies Tactics As They Close In On Him ( Psa 56:5-7 ).
These words could still refer to his enemies in Israel, but it seems more likely that they have his current situation in mind as a fugitive among the Philistines. When he arrived among them it would not be surprising if he was closely questioned, for it would be clear to them that he was an Israelite. The Israelites were no friends of the Philistines, although no doubt in times of peace they traded with each other, but the Israelites had been a subject people, and quite probably there were many Israelites living in Philistia. This the Philistines were not quite sure about David.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 56:5. They wrest my words They pervert, torture, &c. Chandler, &c. That is, they endeavour to squeeze from my words, as it were by torture, any sense that they please, contrary to the intention of the speaker. See Delaney’s Life of David, b. i. c. 11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Surely we must see Christ here eminently set forth. Not only at his trial, but upon many occasions, we are told they sought to catch him in his words. Mat 26:59 , etc. Luk 20:20 , etc.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 56:5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts [are] against me for evil.
Ver. 5. Every day they wrest my words ] Or, my matters; they distort and pervert everything I say, or do, from the true intention, and all to make a traitor of me. That I carried myself wisely in the court, valiantly in the field, faithfully toward Jonathan, cautiously for the safeguard of mine own life, shifting as I could from one place to another; all this they say was done out of affectation for the kingdom, and as seeking Saul’s death. So they dealt by our Saviour in the Gospel, taking that with the left hand which he tendered with the right, and many times marring a good text by an ill gloss put upon it. So Simon the leper served that good woman, who made an ewer a of her eyes and a towel of her hair, Luk 7:34 . Men should interpret everything the best way, and not as logicians do, Sequi partem deteriorem.
All their thoughts, &c.
a A servant who supplied guests, etc. at table with water to wash their hands.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Every day = all the day. See Psa 56:5.
evil. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 56:5-11
Psa 56:5-11
“All the day long they wrest my words:
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,
They mark my steps,
Even as they have waited for my soul.
Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
Thou numberest my wanderings:
Put thou my tears into thy bottle;
Are they not in thy book?
Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call:
This I know that God is for me.
In God (I will praise his word),
In Jehovah (I will praise his word),
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can man do unto me?”
“They wrest my words” (Psa 56:5). The KJV here has `twist my words.’
“Their thoughts are against me” (Psa 56:5). The purpose of the Philistines was continually that of destroying David.
“Gather themselves together … hide themselves … mark my steps” (Psa 56:6). This means they convened counsels on how to destroy David; they concealed themselves in order to spy upon him, and they watched his every move. Yes, those wicked men watched David’s every step; but God also was watching over his own (Psa 56:8), “numbering all of his wanderings, and even counting his tears.”
Delitzsch paraphrased these words regarding the activity of David’s enemies. “David affirmed his loyalty to Saul, but they forced upon his words false meanings; they banded themselves together, they placed men in ambush.
“Shall they escape by iniquity?” (Psa 56:7) Mistreatment of David by the Philistines mentioned here was doubtless the root of his determination, after he became king, to utterly subdue them. He would become God’s instrument in granting the answer to David’s prayer for their destruction (2Sa 5:17; 2Sa 8:1).
“In anger cast down the peoples, O God” (Psa 56:7) The word `peoples’ here is the same as `Gentiles,’ or `nations.’ Indicating that all nations of the whole world were affected in some manner by what happened to David. Of course, this is profoundly true, because the Davidic kingdom was the type and forerunner of the “Kingdom of God.” Addis missed this profound truth altogether, writing that, “Nations were not concerned in the petty espionage which the Psalm describes.
“My wanderings … my tears” (Psa 56:8). Is it really true that God has such detailed interest in his servants? Kidner pointed out that it is even so, adding that, “Our Lord had equally striking terms for God’s attention to detail. He said, `The very hairs of your head are all numbered.’ (Mat 10:29).
“Are they not in thy book?” (Psa 56:8). Rhodes observed that both `bottle’ and `book’ here are metaphorical references to the `records’ of God; and this seems to be correct. God, of course would need neither a record book nor a bottle. As DeHoff noted, “The figure of speech here is similar to that of Rev 5:8 where the prayers of the saints are represented as being preserved in `golden vials.’
“This I know that God is for me” (Psa 56:9). David’s absolute confidence in the truth and dependability of what God had told him through the prophet Nathan sustained him throughout his lifetime, no matter how difficult the circumstances of many heartbreaking situations which he confronted.
“In God (I will praise his word)” (Psa 56:10). This picks up the refrain from Psa 56:4, emphasizes its first line by repeating it almost verbatim, which Kidner tells us was a favorite method of emphasis by the psalmist.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 56:5. Wrest my words means David’s enemies perverted his statements and gave to them a distorted meaning. That is the kind of tactics that dishonest foes often use. By a misuse of what a man says, his words can be made to have a meaning far different from what he intended.
Psa 56:6. This whole verse has a simple meaning; David’s enemies grouped together to spy on him. When they saw what they thought was the right time they would make an attack on his soul or life.
Psa 56:7. The prayers of David were that his enemies be prevented from “getting away” with their iniquity. God’s anger in casting them down would be in the nature of righteous indignation and not in that of petty outbreak of temper.
Psa 56:8. Tellest is from CHAPHAR and defined, “A primitive root; properly to score with a mark as a tally or record, i.e. (by implication) to inscribe, and also to enumerate; intensively, to recount, i.e. celebrate.”–Strong. The original for wanderings is defined by Strong by the one word, “exile,” which refers to the many attempts by his enemies to isolate him by their floods of persecutions. Putting tears in a bottle would indicate they were to be preserved to be considered as a keepsake, in remembrance of some loved one who had shed them. The whole verse means that God notices and remembers the trials and sacrifices his servants experience for His sake.
Psa 56:9. The mere prayer of David to God would not cause his enemies to turn back or retreat. But such a prayer would bring forth the deliverance from God and that would compel the foes to halt.
Psa 56:10. The outstanding thought in this verse is the motive for David’s praise for the Lord. It was because of his Word, and that had always been a prominent thought with the psalmist, as can be seen in his writings.
Psa 56:11. Two thoughts are set as opposites of each other. They are trust in God on one side and fear of man on the other.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
they: Isa 29:20, Isa 29:21, Mat 22:15, Mat 26:61, Luk 11:54, Joh 2:19, 2Pe 3:16
all: 1Sa 18:17, 1Sa 18:21, 1Sa 18:29, 1Sa 20:7, 1Sa 20:33, Jer 18:18, Luk 22:3-6
Reciprocal: Gen 50:20 – ye thought Psa 27:11 – mine enemies Psa 41:7 – against Psa 89:51 – footsteps Jer 18:22 – and hid Amo 7:11 – Jeroboam Mat 26:57 – General Mar 12:13 – they send Act 6:13 – set
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 56:5-6. They wrest my words They misconstrue and pervert my most innocent expressions, and turn them into matter of calumny, in order that they may incense Saul against me. Hebrew, , jegnatzeebu, they put upon the rack my words, to extort that out of them which was never in them. Or, they endeavour to squeeze from my words, as it were by torture, any sense they please, contrary to the intention of the speaker. All their thoughts, &c. It is their whole study to do me mischief. They gather themselves together, &c. After they have separately employed their thoughts against me, they meet together to hold consultations, and compare their schemes, and put them in execution. They hide themselves They lurk secretly; either, that they may pry into all my most private actions; or, that they may surprise me with mischief unawares. They mark my steps All my ways and actions, that they may find some occasion to reproach or entangle, and so destroy me; when they wait for my soul Or life, namely, to take it away.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
56:5 Every day they wrest my {d} words: all their thoughts [are] against me for evil.
(d) All my counsels have evil success, and turn to my own sorrow.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
David further described the wickedness of his oppressors. They continually twisted his words, dogged his steps, and plotted his downfall.