Psalm 56:5-11

The repeated refrain in Psalm 56:10-11 (see verse 4) and the flow of the psalmist's prayer as compared with verses 1-4 indicate the second unt in Psalm 56 is verses 5-11:

"All day long they seek to injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps.
As they hoped to have my life,
so repay them for their crime;
in wrath cast down the peoples, O God.
You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your record?
Then my enemies will retreat
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?"

1. The psalmist again chafes because his or her enemies attack him or her "all day long"-- see verses 1b and 2b. There is never a moment that the composer is not in danger.
2. The poet's enemies use three lines of assault: they conceive (think of) ways to harm the psalmist; they watch the psalmist constantly; they stir up strife between the psalmist and others.
3. The composer resolves not to retaliate against her or his enemies, but to ask Yahweh to deal with those enemies as he thinks best. Yahweh assures his people: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord" (Deuteronomy 32:35; Hebrews 10:30; Romans 12:19). The author of Psalm 56 beseeches Yahweh to execute that assurance: verse 7.
4. The psalmist declares that while Yahweh may not right wrongs done against his people immediately, he does "keep a record" of how others treat them: he "counts the tossings" of his assaulted people; he "puts their tears in his bottle" to preserve them for a time of vindication.
5. The great hope of the psalmist is: "God is for me" (verse 9c), which calls to mind Psalm 118:6-7:
"With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?
The Lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me."
6. As in verse 4, the psalmist repeats the chorus, proclaiming that he or she will put his or her trust in God; then there is no reason to fear anything mortals might do or attempt.
May God give us deep trust in him irrespective of those who oppose us and irrespective of our circumstances in life.

John Willis