My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me.
Parallel translations
- KJV Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
- BSB My enemies pursue me all day long, for many proudly assail me.
- 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 Yahweh’s name, I cut them off.
- Ps 57:3He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Selah. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.
- Mic 6:6How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
- Acts 4:25–27who by the mouth of your servant, David, said, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
- Ps 3:1A Psalm by David, when he fled from Absalom his son. Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me.
- Ps 92:1A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High;
- Ps 92:8But you, Yahweh, are on high forever more.
- Ps 9:2I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
- Ps 35:1By David. Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.
- Ps 93:4Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Yahweh on high is mighty.
- Ps 54:5He will repay the evil to my enemies. Destroy them in your truth.
- Ps 91:1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Isa 57:15For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
- Rev 16:14for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.
- Dan 5:18You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:
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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.