Psalm 56

The 56th psalm is a biblical psalm from the second book of the psalter . It is a so-called David psalm .

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The 5th verse represents a kind of refrain, which is repeated similarly to verse 11f:

“I want to praise God's Word; I want to hope in God and not be afraid. What can people do to me? "

- Psalm 56,5  Lu

The refrain divides the psalm into three different parts. In the first two parts there is a kind of lawsuit. The culminating curse in verse 8 shows parallels to the enemy psalms :

“Should they escape with their malice? God, push these people down without mercy! "

- Psalm 56.8  Lu

This complaint is then answered in the refrain with an expression of trust in God. In the third section, the psalmist speaks of thanks for his (apparently already completed) salvation.

classification

The first verse says that the psalm was written on the occasion of the capture of David by the Philistines in Gath . This refers to an incident reported in 1 Samuel 21: 11-16  EU .

According to the Greek number of the Septuagint , which is also used by the Latin Vulgate , the psalm bears the number 55.

reception

Karl Jenkins used parts of the psalm for his anti-war mass : The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace . John Propitius created the organ work Introïtus and Toccata on Psalm 56 .

Web links

• Psalm 56 in the standard translation , the Luther Bible and other translations from bibleserver.com
• Psalm 56 in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) on bibelwissenschaft.de
• Sheet music in the public domain for settings of Psalm 56 in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stuttgart Explanatory Bible. 2nd Edition. German Bible Society , Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-438-01121-2 , pp. 706f