Psalms 56:1 yonath elem rehokim He said this concerning himself, for he was with Achish, far from the land of Israel, and Goliath’s brothers were requesting permission from Achish to kill him, as it is said (I Sam. 21:12): “Is this not David, the king of the land?” And he was among them as a mute dove.
Psalms 56:2 yearn Heb. שאפנו, yearn to swallow me up, goloseir or goloser, to long, to be impatient. (Cf. Rashi to Amos 2:7.) As (Jer. 2:24): “that snuffs up (שאפה) the wind.”
the warrior Heb. לחם, an expression of war (מלחמה).
Psalms 56:3 O Most High The Holy One blessed be He, Who dwells on High.
Psalms 56:5 With God, I will praise His word Even when He deals with me with the Divine standard of justice I will praise His word and trust in Him.
Psalms 56:6 All day long, my words grieve [me] My pursuers grieve me until all the words of my mouth are grief and cries.
Psalms 56:7 They lodge, they hide They lurk and lodge in the place they hope I will go, and they watch my steps (traces in French, tracks, explained in Gen. 49:19, Song of Songs 1:8) to spy on me and to lead pursuers there. All this he would complain about the wicked of Israel: that they would lie in wait for him and out of fear of them he had fled to Achish.they hide They lurk.
when they hope for my life When they know [that I will pass] and hope for me, “He will go this way.”
Psalms 56:8 For iniquity, they expect rescue To find rescue and riches for a matter of iniquity and wickedness. And פַלֶט is like לפלט, to rescue. They expect reward from Saul for that.
Bring down...with anger With Your anger, bring down this nation in whose midst I am, from their wisdom and from the plots that they devise to kill me.
Psalms 56:9 You counted my wanderings You know the number of the places to which I wandered, to flee.
place my tears in Your flask Place my tears in Your flask, and let them be preserved before You.
Is it not in Your accounting Place them in Your accounting, to count them with the rest of my troubles. Menachem, however, associated it (p. 128) as an expression of an actual book.
Psalms 56:11 With God I will praise a word; with the Lord I will praise For the Divine standard of justice and for the Divine standard of mercy I will praise.
Psalms 56:14 in the light of life To return to the Land of Israel.