Psalm 31:16-24

16 Make your face shine on your servant; in your grace, save me.

17 ADONAI, don't let me be put to shame, for I have called on you; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silenced in Sh'ol.

18 May lying lips be struck dumb, that speak insolently against the righteous with such pride and contempt.

19 But oh, how great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you do for those who take refuge in you, before people's very eyes!

20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them from human plots, you conceal them in your shelter, safe from contentious tongues.

21 Blessed be ADONAI! For he has shown me his amazing grace when I was in a city under siege.

22 As for me, in my alarm I said, "I have been cut off from your sight!"Nevertheless, you heard my pleas when I cried out to you.

23 Love ADONAI, you faithful of his. ADONAI preserves the loyal, but the proud he repays in full.

24 Be strong, and fill your hearts with courage, all of you who hope in ADONAI.

Psalm 31:16-24 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This psalm, according to Arama, was composed by David when in Keilah; but, according to Kimchi and others, when the Ziphites proposed to deliver him up into the hands of Saul; and who, upon their solicitations, came down and surrounded him with his army, from whom in haste he made his escape, and to which he is thought to refer in Psalm 31:22. Theodoret supposes it was written by David when he fled from Absalom, and that it has some respect in it to his sin against Uriah, in that verse.