Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 56:2

"Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long; For they are many that fight proudly against me." — Psalms 56:2 (ASV)

My enemies - Margin, “my observers.” The Hebrew word used here properly means to twist, to twist together; then, to be firm, hard, tough; then, “to press together,” as a rope that is twisted—and from this, the idea of oppressing, or pressing hard on someone, as an enemy. See Psalms 27:11; Psalms 54:5.

In the former verse, the psalmist spoke of an enemy, or of “one” that would swallow him up (in the singular number), or of “man” as an enemy to him anywhere. Here he uses the plural number, implying that there were “many” who were enlisted against him. He was surrounded by enemies; he met them wherever he went.

He had an enemy in Saul; he had enemies in the followers of Saul; he had enemies among the Philistines. And now, when he had fled to Achish, king of Gath, and had hoped to find a refuge and a friend there, he found only bitter foes.

Would daily swallow me up - Constantly; their efforts to do it are unceasing. A new day brings no relief to me, but every day I am called to meet some new form of opposition.

For they are many that fight against me - His own followers and friends were few; his foes were many. Saul had numerous followers, and David encountered foes wherever he went. O thou Most High.

The word used here for this title is מרום mârôm. It properly means height, altitude, elevation; then, a high place, especially heaven (Psalms 18:16; Isaiah 24:18, 24:21); then it is applied to anything high or inaccessible, as a fortress (Isaiah 26:5).

It is supposed by Gesenius (Lexicon) and some others to mean here “elation of mind, pride”—implying that his enemies fought against him with elated minds, or proudly. So the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and Luther render it; and so DeWette understands it.

Yet it seems most probable that our translators have given the correct rendering, and that the passage is a solemn appeal to God as more exalted than his foes, and as one, therefore, in whom he could put entire confidence. Compare Psalms 92:8; Psalms 93:4; Micah 6:6.