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Psalm 56 · a question people ask

"When I am afraid" (56:3), and then "I will not be afraid" (56:4). Which is it?

In the text

The psalm says both, one line after the other. "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you" (56:3). "In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid" (56:4). In Hebrew I am afraid and I will not be afraid are the same word, ira, I fear; the second has lo, not, before it (tap afraid). Between the two lines stands trust: I will put my trust (56:3) and I put my trust (56:4) are the verb batach (tap trust). The psalm doesn't say the psalmist never felt fear. It names the fear (56:3), and it says what he does with it: he trusts, and then he asks, "What can flesh do to me?" (56:4). The same lines come back near the end (56:11), after the psalm says, "I know this: that God is for me" (56:9).

The verses

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
Psalm 56:3-4 · World English Bible
“Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this: that God is for me.”
Psalm 56:9 · World English Bible
“I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Psalm 56:11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 56

Psalm 56: What can man do to me?

The refrain comes back changed: "What can flesh do to me?" (56:4) becomes "What can man do to me?" (56:11), and the second time a line is added, "In the LORD, I will praise his word" (56:10), the only time the psalm says the LORD. And in "You count my wanderings… Aren’t they in your book?" (56:8), Strong's gives book as from the verb count.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions