Psalms 31

Yahweh Is a Fortress

1

For the [music] director. A psalm of David.

1 In you, O Yahweh, I have taken refuge. Let me not be put to shame ever. Deliver me by your righteousness.
2 Incline your ear to me. Quickly deliver me. Become my rock of refuge, {a fortified keep} to save me.
3 For you [are] my rock and my fortress. So, for the sake of your name, lead me and guide me.
4 Bring me out of [the] net that they have secretly set for me, for you [are] my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Yahweh, faithful God.
6 I hate those devoted to useless idols, but I trust Yahweh.
7 I will exult and rejoice in your loyal love. Because you have seen my misery, you know the distresses of my life.
8 And you have not delivered me into [the] hand of [the] enemy. You have set my feet in a broad place.
9 Be gracious [to] me, O Yahweh, because I have distress. My eye wastes away because of vexation, [along with] my soul and my {body}.
10 For my life is at an end with sorrow, and my years with sighing. My strength stumbles because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a disgrace, especially to my neighbors, and a dread to my acquaintances. [Those who] see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have become forgotten like [one] dead, out of {mind}. I am like a destroyed vessel.
13 For I hear [the] rumor of many, "Terror on every side!" When conspiring together against me, they have plotted to take my life.
14 But as for me, I trust you, O Yahweh. I say, "You [are] my God."
15 My times [are] in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from [those who] pursue me.
16 Shine your face upon your servant. Save me by your loyal love.
17 O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame, for I call on you. Let the wicked be put to shame. Let them [go] silently to Sheol.
18 Let lying lips be dumb, that speak against [the] righteous unrestrained with arrogance and contempt.
19 How abundant [is] your goodness that you have stored up for [those who] fear you, that you perform for those who take refuge in you before [the] children of humankind.
20 You will hide them in the protection of your presence from [the] plots of man. You will hide them in a shelter from [the] strife of tongues.
21 Blessed [is] Yahweh, because he has worked marvelously his loyal love to me in a besieged city.
22 As for me, I said in my alarm, "I am cut off from before your eyes." However you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to you for help.
23 Love Yahweh, all you his faithful ones. Yahweh preserves [the] faithful but repays abundantly [the] one who acts arrogantly.
24 Be strong and let your heart show strength, all [you] who wait for Yahweh.

Footnotes 10

  • [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
  • [b]. Literally "a house of strongholds"
  • [c]. Or "God of truth"
  • [d]. Or "soul"
  • [e]. Literally "belly"
  • [f]. Literally "heart"
  • [g]. Or "destiny"
  • [h]. Or "let them [with] wailing [enter]"
  • [i]. Or "the innocent one"
  • [j]. Plural

Psalms 31 Commentaries

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.