Psalm 31
Revised Standard Version
Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
31 In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in thy righteousness deliver me!
2 Incline thy ear to me,
rescue me speedily!
Be thou a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me!
3 Yea, thou art my rock and my fortress;
for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net which is hidden for me,
for thou art my refuge.
5 Into thy hand I commit my spirit;
thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
6 Thou hatest[a] those who pay regard to vain idols;
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be glad for thy steadfast love,
because thou hast seen my affliction,
thou hast taken heed of my adversities,
8 and hast not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
thou hast set my feet in a broad place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye is wasted from grief,
my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,[b]
and my bones waste away.
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror[c] to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
13 Yea, I hear the whispering of many—
terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
14 But I trust in thee, O Lord,
I say, “Thou art my God.”
15 My times are in thy hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors!
16 Let thy face shine on thy servant;
save me in thy steadfast love!
17 Let me not be put to shame, O Lord,
for I call on thee;
let the wicked be put to shame,
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be dumb,
which speak insolently against the righteous
in pride and contempt.
19 O how abundant is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee,
and wrought for those who take refuge in thee,
in the sight of the sons of men!
20 In the covert of thy presence thou hidest them
from the plots of men;
thou holdest them safe under thy shelter
from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as in a besieged city.
22 I had said in my alarm,
“I am driven far[d] from thy sight.”
But thou didst hear my supplications,
when I cried to thee for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you his saints!
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but abundantly requites him who acts haughtily.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord!
Footnotes
- Psalm 31:6 With one Heb Ms Gk Syr Jerome: Heb I hate
- Psalm 31:10 Gk Syr: Heb iniquity
- Psalm 31:11 Cn: Heb exceedingly
- Psalm 31:22 Another reading is cut off
Psalm 31
EasyEnglish Bible
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
Lord, please help me!
31 Lord, I have come to you to keep me safe.
Never let me become ashamed.
You always do what is right
so please save me!
2 Listen to me,
and quickly send help to me.
Lord, be a rock where I can hide.
Be a strong place to keep me safe.
3 You are my high rock and my strong place.
Because of your good name,
lead me and be my guide.[a]
4 You are the place where I can hide,
so keep me safe.
Do not let my enemies' traps catch me.
5 I put my life into your hands.
I know that you will save me, Lord,
because you are a God that I can trust.
6 I hate people who worship useless idols.
As for me, I trust in the Lord.
7 I am very happy because of your faithful love.
You see when I suffer.
You know when I am very upset.
8 You have not put me under the power of my enemies.
You have led me into an open place,
where I can be safe.
9 Lord, I am very upset,
so please be kind to me.
My eyes are tired because I weep so much.
My whole body has become very weak.
10 I am near to death, because I am so sad.
I am crying with pain as my life comes to an end.
I have so much trouble
that I have no strength at all.
Even my bones have become weak.
11 All my enemies hate me.
My friends insult me.
Everyone who knows me is afraid of me.
They run away when they see me in the street.
12 Everybody has forgotten about me.
I might as well be dead!
They think that I am useless,
like a broken plate.
13 I hear what many people are saying against me.
News from everywhere makes me afraid.
They are deciding together
how to kill me.
14 But I continue to trust you, Lord.
I say, ‘You are my God!’[b]
15 You are the one who decides
what will happen to me in my whole life.
Save me from the power of my enemies
and from the people who want to catch me.
16 Turn towards me, your servant,
and be kind to me!
Keep me safe,
because of your faithful love.
17 Lord, do not let me become ashamed.
I call to you for help.
Cause evil people to become ashamed.
Let them go to their graves
and be silent there!
18 May people that tell lies become silent.
They insult righteous people.
They are proud people,
and they boast about themselves.
19 You have prepared many good things
to bless people who respect you.
While everyone watches,
you bless those who come to you for help.
20 You give them a place to hide,
and you keep them safe with you.
When their enemies want to attack them,
you take care of them.
When their enemies speak lies against them,
they are safe with you.
21 Praise the Lord!
When my enemies were all around me,
he showed me that his faithful love is very great.
22 When I was afraid, I said,
‘God is no longer with me!’
But I spoke too soon.
When I called to you for help,
you heard me and you answered me.
23 Love the Lord, all you people who belong to him!
If people serve the Lord faithfully,
he keeps them safe.
But if people are proud,
he punishes them as they deserve.
24 All you people who trust the Lord to help you,
you should be strong and very brave!
Psalm 31
New English Translation
Psalm 31[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
31 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.
Never let me be humiliated.
Vindicate me by rescuing me.[b]
2 Listen to me.[c]
Quickly deliver me.
Be my protector and refuge,[d]
a stronghold where I can be safe.[e]
3 For you are my high ridge[f] and my stronghold;
for the sake of your own reputation[g] you lead me and guide me.[h]
4 You will free me[i] from the net they hid for me,
for you are my place of refuge.
5 Into your hand I entrust my life;[j]
you will rescue[k] me, O Lord, the faithful God.
6 I hate those who serve worthless idols,[l]
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be happy and rejoice in your faithfulness,
because you notice my pain
and you are aware of how distressed I am.[m]
8 You do not deliver me over to the power of the enemy;
you enable me to stand[n] in a wide open place.
9 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress!
My eyes grow dim[o] from suffering.[p]
I have lost my strength.[q]
10 For my life nears its end in pain;
my years draw to a close as I groan.[r]
My strength fails me because of[s] my sin,
and my bones become brittle.[t]
11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me;[u]
my neighbors are appalled by my suffering[v]—
those who know me are horrified by my condition;[w]
those who see me in the street run away from me.
12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about;[x]
I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar.[y]
13 For I hear what so many are saying,[z]
the terrifying news that comes from every direction.[aa]
When they plot together against me,
they figure out how they can take my life.
14 But I trust in you, O Lord!
I declare, “You are my God!”
15 You determine my destiny.[ab]
Rescue me from the power of my enemies and those who chase me.
16 Smile[ac] on your servant.
Deliver me because of your faithfulness.
17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,
for I call out to you.
May evil men be humiliated.
May they go wailing to the grave.[ad]
18 May lying lips be silenced—
lips[ae] that speak defiantly against the innocent[af]
with arrogance and contempt.
19 How great is your favor,[ag]
which you store up for your loyal followers.[ah]
In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter[ai] in you.[aj]
20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks[ak] of men;[al]
you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks.[am]
21 The Lord deserves praise[an]
for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies.[ao]
22 I jumped to conclusions and said,[ap]
“I am cut off from your presence!”[aq]
But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers[ar] of his!
The Lord protects those who have integrity,
but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly.[as]
24 Be strong and confident,[at]
all you who wait on the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 31:1 sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him.
- Psalm 31:1 tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”
- Psalm 31:2 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
- Psalm 31:2 tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”
- Psalm 31:2 tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”
- Psalm 31:3 sn The metaphor of the high ridge pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
- Psalm 31:3 tn Heb “name.” The Hebrew term שֵׁם (shem, “name”) refers here to the Lord’s reputation. (The English term “name” is often used the same way.)
- Psalm 31:3 tn The present translation assumes that the imperfect verbal forms are generalizing, “you lead me and guide me.” Other options are to take them as an expression of confidence about the future, “you will lead me and guide me” (cf. NASB), or as expressing a prayer, “lead me and guide me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).
- Psalm 31:4 tn Heb “bring me out.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form expresses the psalmist’s confidence about the future. Another option is to take the form as expressing a prayer, “free me.”
- Psalm 31:5 tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.
- Psalm 31:5 tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
- Psalm 31:6 tn Heb “the ones who observe vain things of falsehood.” See Jonah 2:9.
- Psalm 31:7 tn Heb “you know the distresses of my life.”
- Psalm 31:8 tn Heb “you cause my feet to stand.”
- Psalm 31:9 tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”
- Psalm 31:9 tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.
- Psalm 31:9 tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.
- Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”
- Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “stumbles in.”
- Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “grow weak.”
- Psalm 31:11 tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”
- Psalm 31:11 tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests a revision may be needed. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (meʾod, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (ʾed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (ʾed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).
- Psalm 31:11 tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”
- Psalm 31:12 tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.
- Psalm 31:12 tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.
- Psalm 31:13 tn Heb “the report of many.”
- Psalm 31:13 tn Heb “the terror from all around.”
- Psalm 31:15 tn Heb “in your hand [are] my times.”
- Psalm 31:16 tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”
- Psalm 31:17 tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddemu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”
- Psalm 31:18 tn Heb “the [ones which].”
- Psalm 31:18 tn Or “godly.”
- Psalm 31:19 tn Or “How abundant are your blessings!”
- Psalm 31:19 tn Heb “for those who fear you.”
- Psalm 31:19 tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 34:21-22).
- Psalm 31:19 tn Heb “you work [your favor] for the ones seeking shelter in you before the sons of men.”
- Psalm 31:20 tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.”
- Psalm 31:20 tn Heb “you hide them in the hiding place of your face from the attacks of man.” The imperfect verbal forms in this verse draw attention to God’s typical treatment of the faithful.
- Psalm 31:20 tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”
- Psalm 31:21 tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”
- Psalm 31:21 tn Heb “for he caused his faithfulness to be amazing to me in a besieged city.” The psalmist probably speaks figuratively here. He compares his crisis to being trapped in a besieged city, but the Lord answered his prayer for help. Verses 19-24 were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18.
- Psalm 31:22 tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.”
- Psalm 31:22 tn Heb “from before your eyes.”
- Psalm 31:23 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
- Psalm 31:23 tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.
- Psalm 31:24 tn Heb “be strong and let your heart[s] be confident.”
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