psalm 56 chiastic structure

Read Psalm 56 at Bible Gateway.

Our grandson has gone home, and normal life and blogging has resumed. I miss our little man so much – thank you for being patient with me while we enjoyed our time together!

Psalm 56 forms a complex reverse parallelism with smaller chiastic structures embedded within it:

1a) Psa 56:1a, Be gracious unto me;

1b) Psa 56:1b-4, Man would swallow me up/ I will not be afraid but put my trust in You:

1b.1) Psa 56:1b-2, O God, for man lying in wait for me would swallow me up/ fighting against me all the day:

1a) Psa 56:1b, O God;
1b) Psa 56:1c, For man would swallow me up/ all the day he fighting oppresses me;
central axis) Psa 56:2a, They that lie in wait for me;
2b) Psa 56:2b, Would swallow me up all the day/ they are many that fight against me;
2a) Psa 56:2c, O Most High;

1b.2) Psa 56:3-4, I put my trust in You, God-I-will-praise-His-word:

1a) Psa 56:3a, In the day that I am afraid;
1b) Psa 56:3b, I will put my trust in You;
central axis) Psa 56:4a, In God-I-will-praise-His-word-; {n}
2b) Psa 56:4b, In God do I trust;
2a) Psa 56:4c, I will not be afraid/what can flesh do unto me?

2b) Psa 56:5-11, They are against me + lie in wait for me/ You are for me + I will not be afraid but put my trust in You:

2b.1) Psa 56:5-9, They are against me + mark my steps in wait/ You mark my tears + are for me:

1a) Psa 56:5, All the day they trouble my affairs; all their thoughts are against me for evil;
1b) Psa 56:6, They gather + hide themselves + mark my steps + lie in wait;
central axis) Psa 56:7, Because of iniquity cast them out; in anger bring down the peoples, O God;
2b) Psa 56:8, You have counted my wanderings + gathered my tears;
2a) Psa 56:9, Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I call; this I know, that God is for me;

2b.2) Psa 56:10-11, In God + YHVH-I-will-praise-His-word do I trust, I will not be afraid/what can man do unto me?

2a) Psa 56:12-13, Your vows are upon me; I render You thanksgiving/ You have delivered my soul from death + my feet from stumbling {n} that I may walk before God in the light of the living. {p}

God-I-will-praise-His-word is in Hebrew, a compound name for God, like Yehovah-Rapha, God-who-heals-me (Exo 15:26).

In the 2B.1 chiastic structure, the idea is that as the thoughts of the wicked are against the righteous for evil, the thoughts of God are for the righteous for good (Jer 29:11). As the wicked mark the steps of the righteous to lie in wait for him to trip him up, God marks the wanderings and tears of the righteous, to wait for him to bless him. In a contest between the wicked and God, whose plans and purposes are going to win out? This is why David has confidence to say, “I will trust in You, I will not be afraid,” even though we will experience temporary tribulation in this world because of sinfulness.

The translation I used today to work out the structure is the JPS, the Jewish Publication Society translation from the Hebrew into English. It gives slightly different renderings of some phrases based on their own Hebrew scholarship and tradition. (Who would know the words of King David better?) A case in point is Psa 56:12, translated in NKJV as

Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;
I will render praises to You,

But in the JPS as

Thy vows are upon me, O God; I will render thank-offerings unto Thee.

This is where King David’s confidence in the face of his enemies comes from. Yes, vows men make to God are binding upon them. But God has made vows to men that are binding upon Him. He obeys His own word. This is the sense of, “Thy vows are upon me.” Therefore I will not be afraid, for God-I-will-praise-His-word has made promises to me which He will keep! ♥