Psalm 56
The full text of Psalm 56 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
For the choirmaster. According to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many attack me proudly.
3 When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk;
they watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
7 For their crime will they escape?
In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
8 You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I 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; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I must perform my vows to you, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
Translation notes (3)
- Psalm 56:7a Hebrew 'al-'awen pallet-lamo, literally 'because of iniquity deliverance to them', lacks an interrogative particle; the question is inferred from context, since escape for the wicked would contradict the plea for judgment that follows. Some critics emend pallet, 'deliver', to palles, 'weigh out', yielding 'requite them for their iniquity', but the Masoretic Text is retained here.
- Psalm 56:8a The Hebrew plays on like-sounding words: nodi (נֹדִי), 'my wandering' or 'tossing', and no'd (נֹאד), 'skin bottle', the leather waterskin used to store precious liquids. The image asks God to treasure each tear as one would guard water in the desert, paired with the record kept in his book (sefer).
- Psalm 56:13a Hebrew be'or hachayyim (בְּאוֹר הַחַיִּים) is literally 'in the light of the living', a phrase that recurs in Job 33:30. It denotes life lived in God's presence, in contrast to the darkness of Sheol, and stands parallel to walking 'before God' in the same verse.
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