“Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.”
The description of enemies who twist words and gather to attack establishes that the enemies employ deception and linguistic manipulation in addition to physical threat. The reference to attacking when no one sees indicates that enemies employ hidden violence and strategy; the threat is not only overt but also covert. The enumeration of enemies' tactics (twisting words, gathering, attacking covertly) grounds the psalm in recognition that persecution is comprehensive and multi-layered. This verse articulates that the enemies are not merely powerful but also strategic and deceptive, making the threat more subtle and penetrating.
Church Fathers on Psalms 56:5
1. Just as when we are going to enter into any house, we look on the title to see whose it is and to whom it belongs, lest perchance inopportunely we burst into a place whereunto we ought not; and again, in order that we may not through timidity withdraw from that which we ought to enter: as if in a word we were to read, These estates belong to such an one or to such an one: so on the lintel of this Psalm we have inscribed, “At the end, for the people that from holy men were…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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