Psalm 31:18-24

18 Let lying lips be quieted; they speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt.

19 How great is Your goodness that You have stored up for those who fear You, and accomplished in the sight of everyone for those who take refuge in You.

20 You hide them in the protection of Your presence; You conceal them in a shelter^[a] from the schemes of men, from quarrelsome tongues.

21 May the Lord be praised, for He has wonderfully shown His faithful love to me in a city under siege.^[b]

22 In my alarm I had said, "I am cut off from Your sight." But You heard the sound of my pleading when I cried to You for help.

23 Love the Lord, all His faithful ones. The Lord protects the loyal, but fully repays the arrogant.

24 Be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31:18-24 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit canopy
• [b] Or a fortified city