What Does Psalms 56:4 Mean?

Verse 4 gives the theological grounding for verse 3's trust-amid-fear: "In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?" The in-God-whose-word-I-praise (belohim ahallel devaro, in God I praise his word: the hallel/praise applied to devaro/his-word as the specific-divine-content being praised : not just God-in-general but the divine-word: the dabar/word as the revealed-promise of verse 3's trust-object) and the in-God-I-trust-not-afraid (belohim batachti lo ira, in God I trust, I will not be afraid: the batach/trust followed by the lo-ira/not-afraid : the outcome of trust is the overcoming of fear) and the what-can-flesh-do (mah ya'aseh basar li, what can flesh do to me: the rhetorical-question mah/what applied to the basar/flesh as the impotence of mortal-opposition: flesh cannot ultimately prevail against the one who trusts in the God whose word is reliable).

The belohim-ahallel-devaro (in God I praise his word) is the Scripture-rooted faith: the trust of verse 3 is grounded in God's word (devaro). The mah-ya'aseh-basar-li (what can flesh do to me?) is the rhetorical-reversal: flesh/basar is the natural opponent of Spirit-and-God. What can mortal-flesh do against the eternal God?

Hebrews 13:6's "so we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'" quotes Psalm 118:6-7 but applies verse 4's mah-ya'aseh-basar-li (what can flesh do to me?) directly: the confidence-assertion of Hebrews 13:6 is verse 4's rhetorical-question answered. Romans 8:38-39's "for I am sure that neither death nor life... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" is verse 4's mah-ya'aseh-basar-li (what can flesh do?) given its fullest NT answer: nothing can separate.