Psalms Chapter 56 verse 2 Holy Bible
Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long; For they are many that fight proudly against me.
read chapter 56 in ASV
My haters are ever ready to put an end to me; great numbers are lifting themselves up against me.
read chapter 56 in BBE
Mine enemies would swallow [me] up all the day long; for they are many that fight against me haughtily.
read chapter 56 in DARBY
Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
read chapter 56 in KJV
To the chief Musician upon Jonathelem-rechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
read chapter 56 in WBT
My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, For they are many who fight proudly against me.
read chapter 56 in WEB
Mine enemies have swallowed up all the day, For many `are' fighting against me, O most High,
read chapter 56 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - Mine enemies; literally, my watchers - those who keep a continual guard over me. If David had been seized and made a prisoner by the Philistine lords, this expression would be very appropriate. Would daily swallow me up; rather, pant after me all day. For they be many that fight against me. The "lords of the Philistines" were, doubtless, "many;" they seem to have, all of them, opposed themselves to David (1 Samuel 29:2-9). O thou Most High. This rendering is now generally abandoned, since marom (מָרום), "height," is nowhere else used in this sense. Dr. Kay, Hengstenberg, and the Revised Version render "proudly;" Professor Cheyne, "with high looks."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) Swallow me up.--The root idea of the Hebrew word so rendered is by no means clear. In many passages where it is used the meaning given here by the LXX., "trample on," will suit the context quite as well as, or even better than, the meaning, "pant after," given in the Lexicons. (See Job 5:5; Isaiah 42:14; Ecclesiastes 1:5; Amos 2:7; Amos 8:4.) And this sense of bruising by trampling also suits the cognate verb, sh-ph, used only three times (Genesis 3:15; Job 9:17; Psalm 139:11). Symmachus also here has "bruise," or "grind." On the other hand in Psalm 119:131; Job 7:2, &c, we want the idea of "haste" or "desire." Possibly the original meaning of "trample" may have passed through the sense of physical haste to that of passion. Or we may even get the sense of "greedily devouring" by the exactly similar process by which we come to talk of devouring the road with speed. The same verb is used in the next verse with an object. . . .
