My enemies pursue me all day long, for many proudly assail me.
Parallel translations
- WEB My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me.
- KJV Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
- NKJV My enemies would hound me all day, For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
- NASB My enemies have trampled upon me all day long, For they are many who fight proudly against me.
- NLT I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Many proud foes fight against David all day long. It deepens the picture of relentless, overwhelming opposition.
Overview
David describes enemies who continually seek to swallow him up, fighting with arrogance. The repeated 'all day long' stresses how unrelenting the pressure is. His honest naming of the threat prepares the way for his striking declaration of trust that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 118:10–12All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- Ps 57:3He reaches down from heaven and saves me; He rebukes those who trample me. Selah God sends forth His loving devotion and His truth.
- Mic 6:6With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
- Acts 4:25–27You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Ps 3:1A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom. O LORD, how my foes have increased! How many rise up against me!
- Ps 92:1A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is good to praise the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High,
- Ps 92:8But You, O LORD, are exalted forever!
- Ps 9:2I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
- Ps 35:1Of David. Contend with my opponents, O LORD; fight against those who fight against me.
- Ps 93:4Above the roar of many waters—the mighty breakers of the sea—the LORD on high is majestic.
- Ps 54:5He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.
- Ps 91:1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Isa 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
- Rev 16:14These are demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the earth, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
- Dan 5:18As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 56:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.