Psalms 31:13

13 For I have heard the slander of many -- terror on every side -- when they take counsel together against me: they plot to take away my life.

Psalms 31:13 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 31:13

For I have heard the slander of many
Both enemies and neighbours;

fear [was] on every side;
his enemies were a "Magormissabib" to him, ( Jeremiah 20:3 ) ; encompassed him around, so that he was in fear from every quarter;

while they took counsel together against me;
how to apprehend him, and what to do with him;

they devised to take away my life;
nothing short of that would satisfy; but life is in the hand of God; men may devise, but God disappoints, and his counsel stands; hence the psalmist was encouraged, after all, to trust in him, in this time of imminent danger, as follows.

Psalms 31:13 In-Context

11 More than to all mine oppressors, I am become exceedingly a reproach, even to my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that see me without flee from me.

12 I am forgotten in [their] heart as a dead man; I am become like a broken vessel.

13 For I have heard the slander of many -- terror on every side -- when they take counsel together against me: they plot to take away my life.

14 But I confided in thee, Jehovah; I said, thou art my God.

15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from my persecutors.