Psalms 59:6
in Psalms 59They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And go round about the city.
KJV
They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 59
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThey return at evening,.... It was at evening Saul sent messengers to watch David's house, that they might take him in the morning; but missing him, perhaps after a fruitless search for him all the day, returned at evening to watch his house again; or they might come, and go and return the first evening.
This site's exposition
They return in the evening
on Psalms 59:6-8
Verse 6 has them returning in the evening, dogs snarling and prowling the city, and verse 14 says it again word for word. Their mouths are the weapon, sharp words and the boast, for who can hear us. Verse 8 answers that: the LORD laughs, as at Psalm 2:4.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Let them be converted at the evening" [Psalm 59:6]. Of certain men he is speaking that were once workers of iniquity, and once darkness, being converted in the evening. What is, "in the evening"? Afterward. What is "at the evening"? Later. For before, before that they crucified Christ, they ought to have acknowledged their Physician. Wherefore, when He had been crucified— rising again, into Heaven ascending— after that He sent His Holy Spirit, wherewith were fulfilled they that were in one house, and they began to speak with the tongues of all nations, there feared the crucifiers of Christ; they were pricked through with their consciences, they besought counsel of safety from the Apostles, they heard, "Repent, and be baptized each one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be remitted unto you." [Acts 2:38] After the slaying of Christ, after the shedding of the blood of Christ, remitted are your sins...."Let these be converted," therefore, they also "at evening." Let them yearn for the grace of God, perceive themselves to be sinners; let those strong men be made weak, those rich men be made poor, those just men acknowledge themselves sinners, those lions be made dogs. "Let them be converted at evening, and suffer hunger as dogs. And they shall go around the city." What city? That world, which in certain places the Scripture calls "the city of standing round:" that is, because in all nations everywhere the world had encompassed the one nation of Jews, where such words were being spoken, and it was called "the city of standing round." Around this city shall go those men, now having become hungry dogs. In what manner shall they go around? By preaching. Saul out of a wolf was made a dog at evening, that is, being late converted by the crumbs of his Lord, in His grace he ran, and went around the city.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Return - Watching for me: which they did at this time all the night long, 1 Sam. xix, 11. A dog - When he is pursuing his prey. Go round - When they did not find him in his own house, they sought for him in other parts of the city.
Thus the persecutors of our Lord Jesus, who are compared to dogs ( Ps. xxii. 16 ), ran him down with noise; for else they could not have taken him, at least no on the feast-day, for there would have been an uproar among the people.
Their sin was their hunting for David to make a prey of him; their punishment should be that they should be reduced to such extreme poverty that they should hunt about for meat to satisfy their hunger, and should miss of it as they missed of David.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They return at evening. Like wild beasts that roam at night, they come forth to do mischief. If foiled in the light, they seek the more congenial darkness in which to accomplish their designs. They mean to break into the house in the dead of might. They make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Howling with hunger for their prey, they sneak round and round the walls, prowling with stealthy footstep, and barking in unamiable concert.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
They return at evening. Like wild beasts that roam at night, they come forth to do mischief. If foiled in the light, they seek the more congenial darkness in which to accomplish their designs. They mean to break into the house in the dead of might. They make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Howling with hunger for their prey, they sneak round and round the walls, prowling with stealthy footstep, and barking in unamiable concert. David compares his foes to Eastern dogs, unowned, loathsome, degraded, lean, and hungry, and he represents them as howling with disappointment, because they cannot find the food they seek. Saul's watchmen and the cruel king himself must have raved and raged fiercely when they found the image and the pillow of goat's hair in the bed instead of David. Vain were their watchings, the victim had been delivered, and that by the daughter of the man who desired his blood. Go, ye dogs, to your kennels and gnaw your bones, for this good man is not meat for your jaws.
They return at evening - When the beasts of prey leave their dens, and go prowling about the cities and villages to get offal, and entrap domestic animals, these come about the city to see if they may get an entrance, destroy the work, and those engaged in it.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They return at evening - Many have rendered this in the imperative, as in Psa 59:14, “Let them return at evening,” etc. So Luther renders it, and so also DeWette. But the more natural and obvious interpretation is to render it in the indicative, as describing the manner in which his enemies came upon him - like dogs seeking their prey; fierce mastiffs, howling and ready to spring upon him. From the phrase “they return at evening,” thus explained, it would seem probable that they watched their opportunity, or lay in wait, to secure their object; that having failed at first, they drew off again until evening, perhaps continuing thus for several days unable to accomplish their object. They make a noise like a dog - So savages, after lurking stealthily all day, raise the war-whoop at night, and come upon their victims. It is possible that an assault of this kind “had” been attempted; or, more probably, it is a description of the manner in which they “would” make their assault, and of the spirit with which it would be done. And go round about the city - The word “city” is used in a large sense in the Scriptures, and is often applied to places that we should now describe as “villages.” Any town within the limits of which David was lodged, would answer to this term.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָשׁ֣וּבוּ | yashuvu | they return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לָ֭עֶרֶב | laerev | to <the> evening | H6153 → | 134 times |
| יֶהֱמ֥וּ | yehemu | they growl | H1993 → | 34 times |
| כַכָּ֗לֶב | khakalev | like <the> dog | H3611 → | 32 times |
| וִיס֥וֹבְבוּ | visovu | so they may go around | H5437 → | 161 times |
| עִֽיר׃ | ʾir | [the] city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
יָשׁ֣וּבוּthey return
yashuvuH7725 →1056 times
לָ֭עֶרֶבto <the> evening
laerevH6153 →134 times
יֶהֱמ֥וּthey growl
yehemuH1993 →34 times
כַכָּ֗לֶבlike <the> dog
khakalevH3611 →32 times
וִיס֥וֹבְבוּso they may go around
visovuH5437 →161 times
עִֽיר׃[the] city
ʾirH5892 →1090 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 22:16For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
it leads to
- John 19:37
And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”
- Zechariah 12:10
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
- Matthew 27:35
When they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments by casting lots.
- John 20:25
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put…
- John 19:23
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His garments into four parts, one for each soldier, with the tunic remaining. It was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
- John 19:37
Through
1 Samuel 19:11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will…
it leads to
- Psalms 59:1–17
Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise against me.
- Judges 16:2
When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait…
- Psalms 59:1–17
Through
Psalms 59:14They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.
it leads to
- Psalms 22:16
For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
- Psalms 22:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 59; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.