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56. Psalm 56

¹ Be merciful to me, my God,
   for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
   all day long they press their attack.
² My adversaries pursue me all day long;
   in their pride many are attacking me.

    ³ When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
    ⁴ In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
   What can mere mortals do to me?

    ⁵ All day long they twist my words;
   all their schemes are for my ruin.
⁶ They conspire, they lurk,
   they watch my steps,
   hoping to take my life.
⁷ Because of their wickedness do not Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text does not have do not. let them escape;
   in your anger, God, bring the nations down.

    ⁸ Record my misery;
   list my tears on your scroll Or misery; / put my tears in your wineskin—
   are they not in your record?
⁹ Then my enemies will turn back
   when I call for help.
   By this I will know that God is for me.

    ¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise,
   in the LORD, whose word I praise—
¹¹ in God I trust and am not afraid.
   What can man do to me?

    ¹² I am under vows to you, my God;
   I will present my thank offerings to you.
¹³ For you have delivered me from death
   and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
   in the light of life.

9. When I cry, then shall mine enemies turn back. Here he boasts of victory with even more confidence than formerly, specifying, as it were, the very moment of time when his enemies were to be turned back. He had no sensible evidence of their approaching destruction but from the firm reliance which he exercised upon the promise, he was able to anticipate the coming period, and resolved to wait for it with patience. Though God might make no haste to interpose, and might not scatter his enemies at the very instant when he prayed, he was confident that his prayers would not be disappointed: and his ground for believing this was just a conviction of the truth, that God never frustrates the prayers of his own children. With this conviction thoroughly fixed in his mind, he could moderate his anxieties, and calmly await the issue. It is instructive to notice, that David, when he would secure the obtainment of his request, does not pray in a hesitating or uncertain spirit, but with a confident assurance of his being heard. Having once reached this faith, he sets at defiance the devil and all the host of the ungodly.