Psalm 31

1 O Lord, I have hoped in thee; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness and rescue me.

2 Incline thine ear to me; make haste to rescue me: be thou to me for a protecting God, and for a house of refuge to save me.

3 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and thou shalt guide me for thy name’s sake, and maintain me.

4 Thou shalt bring me out of the snare which they have hidden for me; for thou, O Lord, art my defender.

5 Into thine hands I will commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

6 Thou has hated them that idly persist in vanities: but I have hoped in the Lord.

7 I will exult and be glad in thy mercy: for thou hast looked upon mine affliction; thou hast saved my soul from distresses.

8 And thou hast not shut me up into the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a wide place.

9 Pity me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with indignation, my soul and by belly.

10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with groanings: my strength has been weakened through poverty, and my bones are troubled.

11 I became a reproach among all mine enemies, but exceedingly so to my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that saw me without fled from me.

12 I have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am become as a broken vessel.

13 For I heard the slander of many that dwelt round about: when they were gathered together against me, they took counsel to take my life.

14 But I hoped in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

15 My lots are in thy hands: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies,

16 and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me in thy mercy.

17 O Lord, let me not be ashamed, for I have called upon thee: let the ungodly be ashamed, and brought down to Hades.

18 Let the deceitful lips become dumb, which speak iniquity against the righteous with pride and scorn.

19 How abundant is the multitude of thy goodness, O Lord, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! thou hast wrought it out for them that hope on thee, in the presence of the sons of men.

20 Thou wilt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the vexation of man: thou wilt screen them in a tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.

21 Blessed be the Lord: for he has magnified his mercy in a fortified city.

22 But I said in my extreme fear, I am cast out from the sight of thine eyes: therefore thou didst hearken, O Lord, to the voice of my supplication when I cried to thee.

23 Love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord seeks for truth, and renders a reward to them that deal very proudly.

24 Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31 Commentary

Chapter 31

Confidence in God. (1-8) Prayer in trouble. (9-18) Praise for God's goodness. (19-24)

Verses 1-8 Faith and prayer must go together, for the prayer of faith is the prevailing prayer. David gave up his soul in a special manner to God. And with the words, ver. 5, our Lord Jesus yielded up his last breath on the cross, and made his soul a free-will offering for sin, laying down his life as a ransom. But David is here as a man in distress and trouble. And his great care is about his soul, his spirit, his better part. Many think that while perplexed about their worldly affairs, and their cares multiply, they may be excused if they neglect their souls; but we are the more concerned to look to our souls, that, though the outward man perish, the inward man may suffer no damage. The redemption of the soul is so precious, that it must have ceased for ever, if Christ had not undertaken it. Having relied on God's mercy, he will be glad and rejoice in it. God looks upon our souls, when we are in trouble, to see whether they are humbled for sin, and made better by the affliction. Every believer will meet with such dangers and deliverances, until he is delivered from death, his last enemy.

Verses 9-18 David's troubles made him a man of sorrows. Herein he was a type of Christ, who was acquainted with grief. David acknowledged that his afflictions were merited by his own sins, but Christ suffered for ours. David's friends durst not give him any assistance. Let us not think it strange if thus deserted, but make sure of a Friend in heaven who will not fail. God will be sure to order and dispose all for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand. The time of life is in God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, make bitter or sweet, according to the counsel of his will. The way of man is not in himself, nor in our friend's hands, nor in our enemies' hands, but in God's. In this faith and confidence he prays that the Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any merit of his own. He prophesies the silencing of those that reproach and speak evil of the people of God. There is a day coming, when the Lord will execute judgment upon them. In the mean time, we should engage ourselves by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Verses 19-24 Instead of yielding to impatience or despondency under our troubles, we should turn our thoughts to the goodness of the Lord towards those who fear and trust in Him. All comes to sinners through the wondrous gift of the only-begotten Son of God, to be the atonement for their sins. Let not any yield to unbelief, or think, under discouraging circumstances, that they are cut off from before the eyes of the Lord, and left to the pride of men. Lord, pardon our complaints and fears; increase our faith, patience, love, and gratitude; teach us to rejoice in tribulation and in hope. The deliverance of Christ, with the destruction of his enemies, ought to strengthen and comfort the hearts of believers under all their afflictions here below, that having suffered courageously with their Master, they may triumphantly enter into his joy and glory.

Chapter Summary

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.