Psalms 31:1-10

1 I have taken refuge in you, O LORD. Never let me be put to shame. Save me because of your righteousness.

2 Turn your ear toward me. Rescue me quickly. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.

3 Indeed, you are my rock and my fortress. For the sake of your name, lead me and guide me.

4 You are my refuge, so pull me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me.

5 Into your hands I entrust my spirit. You have rescued me, O LORD, God of truth.

6 I hate those who cling to false gods, but I trust the LORD.

7 I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy. You have seen my misery. You have known the troubles in my soul.

8 You have not handed me over to the enemy. You have set my feet in a place where I can move freely.

9 Have pity on me, O LORD, because I am in distress. My eyes, my soul, and my body waste away from grief.

10 My life is exhausted from sorrow, my years from groaning. My strength staggers under [the weight of] my guilt, and my bones waste away.

Psalms 31:1-10 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.