John Gill Commentary Psalms 56:6

"They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, They mark my steps, Even as they have waited for my soul." — Psalms 56:6 (ASV)

They gather themselves together
And meet in some one place, to contrive ways and means to do hurt, and then assemble together again to put them in execution; as did the Jews with respect to Christ, (Matthew 26:3Matthew 26:4) (Acts 4:27Acts 4:28) . Aben Ezra supposes a various reading without any reason; and that, instead of (wrwgy) which Jarchi renders "they lodge", and the Septuagint, and the versions following that, "they sojourn", it should be read (wdwgy) , "they assemble in troops": because they were many: but the sense is, "they stay" ^F24 , or continue in some certain place:

they hide themselves ;
the Targum adds, "in ambush": they lay in wait, and caused others to lie in wait for him, in order to take him; as did Saul and his men, and the servants of the king of Gath;

they mark my steps ;
they observed where he went, that they might seize him; or they observed his heels, as the old serpent did the Messiah's, that he might bruise them; or they watched for his halting, as Jeremiah's familiars did for his;

when they wait for my soul ;
to take away his life, to destroy him; see (Psalms 119:95) ; they wanted not a will to do it, they only waited for an opportunity. The Targum is, ``as they waited, they did to my soul:'' or rather, "after they had hoped for my soul" ^F25 : when they had entertained hopes of taking him, this animated them to do the above things.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F24: "Commorabuntur", Montanus; "simul ipsi morantur", Vatablus; so Gussetius, p. 166.
• F25: Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 361.