Psalms 56:7

7 Pay them back in evil! Get angry, God! Down with these people!

Psalms 56:7 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 56:7

Shall they escape by iniquity?
&c.] Shall such iniquity as this, or persons guilty of it, go unpunished, or escape righteous judgment, and the vengeance of God? No; and much less shall they escape by means of their iniquity; by their wicked subtlety, or by any evil arts and methods made use of, by making a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell; or escape because of their iniquity; or be delivered because of the abominations done by them, as they flatter themselves, ( Jeremiah 7:10 ) . Some understand these words, not as referring to the escape of David's enemies, but of himself; and render them, either by way of petition, "because of iniquity", the iniquity of his enemies before described, "deliver [me] from them"; or "deliver them" ^F26, meaning his heels they marked, and his soul they waited for: or by way of assertion or interrogation, "because of iniquity" there shall be; or shall there be "a deliverance to them?" ^F1 his heels and his soul; or from them, his enemies. Though others choose to render the words thus; "because of [their] iniquity", there shall be "a casting of them away"

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 by the Lord, and from his presence, with loathing and contempt, as sons of Belial; reprobate silver, rejected of the Lord; which agrees with what follows:

in [thine] anger, cast down the people, O God;
Saul's courtiers, or the servants of Achish king of Gath, or both, who were in high places, but slippery ones; and such are sometimes brought down to destruction in a moment, by that God from whom promotion comes; who putteth down one, and sets up another, and which he does in wrath and anger.

F26 (wml mlq Nwa le) "ob iniquitatem eorum eripe me", Schmidt; "illos", Gejerus; "ipsis", De Dieu.
F1 "Ipsis est liberatio", Cocceius; "evasio erit eis?" Pagninus, Vatablus; "ereptio erit eis?" Piscator.
F2 "Abjectio erit iis", Hammond.

Psalms 56:7 In-Context

5 They don't let up - they smear my reputation and huddle to plot my collapse.

6 They gang up, sneak together through the alleys To take me by surprise, wait their chance to get me.

7 Pay them back in evil! Get angry, God! Down with these people!

8 You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.

9 If my enemies run away, turn tail when I yell at them, Then I'll know that God is on my side.