Psalm 31:9-18

9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!

10 For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away.

11 I am a reproach among all my enemies, But especially among my neighbors, And am repulsive to my acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me.

12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.

13 For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life.

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; 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 persecute me.

16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies' sake.

17 Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You; Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave.

18 Let the lying lips be put to silence, Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Psalm 31:9-18 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.