Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

31. Psalm 31

¹ In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame;
   deliver me in your righteousness.
² Turn your ear to me,
   come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress to save me.
³ Since you are my rock and my fortress,
   for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
⁴ Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
   for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hands I commit my spirit;
   deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.

    ⁶ I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
   as for me, I trust in the LORD.
⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
   for you saw my affliction
   and knew the anguish of my soul.
⁸ You have not given me into the hands of the enemy
   but have set my feet in a spacious place.

    ⁹ Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
   my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
   my soul and body with grief.
¹⁰ My life is consumed by anguish
   and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction, Or guilt
   and my bones grow weak.
¹¹ Because of all my enemies,
   I am the utter contempt of my neighbors
and an object of dread to my closest friends—
   those who see me on the street flee from me.
¹² I am forgotten as though I were dead;
   I have become like broken pottery.
¹³ For I hear many whispering,
   “Terror on every side!”
They conspire against me
   and plot to take my life.

    ¹⁴ But I trust in you, LORD;
   I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in your hands;
   deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
   from those who pursue me.
¹⁶ Let your face shine on your servant;
   save me in your unfailing love.
¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, LORD,
   for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
   and be silent in the realm of the dead.
¹⁸ Let their lying lips be silenced,
   for with pride and contempt
   they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

    ¹⁹ How abundant are the good things
   that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
   on those who take refuge in you.
²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you hide them
   from all human intrigues;
you keep them safe in your dwelling
   from accusing tongues.

    ²¹ Praise be to the LORD,
   for he showed me the wonders of his love
   when I was in a city under siege.
²² In my alarm I said,
   “I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
   when I called to you for help.

    ²³ Love the LORD, all his faithful people!
   The LORD preserves those who are true to him,
   but the proud he pays back in full.
²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
   all you who hope in the LORD.

20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy countenance. In this verse the Psalmist specially commends the grace of God, because it preserves and protects the faithful against all harm. As Satan assiduously and by innumerable means opposes their welfare, and as the greater part of the world is at deadly war with them, they must be exposed to many dangers. Unless God, therefore, protected them by his power, and came from time to time to their aid, their condition would be most miserable. The Psalmist makes an allusion to the hiding which he had just mentioned, and although the metaphor may, at first sight, appear somewhat harsh, it very aptly expresses, that provided the Lord take care of them, the faithful are perfectly safe under his protection alone. By this eulogium, therefore, he sublimely extols the power of divine Providence, because it alone suffices to ward off every species of evil, and while it shines upon the godly, it blinds the eyes of all the wicked, and weakens their hands. ⁶⁵¹⁶⁵¹ “Et que quand elle luit sur les fideles, ses rayons sont pour esblouir les yeux de tous les iniques, et affoiblir leur mains.." — Fr. In the opinion of some, the Psalmist, when he speaks of the secret of God’s countenance, refers to the sanctuary, an interpretation which I do not altogether reject, although it does not appear to me sufficiently solid. Again, he says that God hides the faithful from the pride of man and the strife of tongues, because, if God restrain not the wicked, we know that they have the audacity to break forth with outrageous violence against the truly godly; but however unbridled their lust and insolence may be, God preserves his people from harm, by wondrously covering them with the brightness of his countenance. Some translate the Hebrew word ריכסים, rikasim, conspiracies, ⁶⁵²⁶⁵² This is the reading adopted by Walford. “רכס ,מרכסי, colligavit: hence ‘bands,’ ‘conspiracies.’” others perversities, but without any reason; nor, indeed, does the etymology of the word admit of it, for it comes from a root which signifies to lift up, or to elevate. To pride is added the strife of tongues, because God’s children have cause to fear not only the inhuman deeds of their enemies, but also their still more wicked and violent calumnies, as David himself more than enough experienced. And as our innocence ought to be justly dearer to us than our life, let us learn to cultivate uprightness in such a manner as that, trusting to God’s protection, we may disregard every false calumny. And let us always remember that it is God’s peculiar prerogative to vindicate his people from all unjust reproaches.