Psalms 31:1-6

1 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, I have hoped in thee, be I not shamed [into] without end; deliver thou me in thy rightfulness. (To victory, the song of David. Lord, I have put my trust in thee, let me never be shamed; save thou me in thy righteousness.)

2 Bow down thine ear to me; haste thou to deliver me. Be thou to me into God a defender, and into an house of refuge; that thou make me safe. (Bow down thy ear to me; hasten thou to rescue me. God, be my defender, and a house of refuge; so that thou keep me safe/so that thou save me.)

3 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for (the sake of) thy name, thou shalt lead me forth, and shalt nourish me.

4 Thou shalt lead me out of the snare, which they hid to me (which they have hid for me); for thou art my defender.

5 I betake my spirit into thine hands; Lord God of truth, thou hast again-bought me. (I commit, or I entrust, my spirit into thy hands; Lord God of truth, thou hast redeemed me.)

6 Thou hatest them that keep vanities superfluously. Forsooth I hoped in the Lord; (Thou hatest them who worship false gods, or useless idols. But I put my trust in the Lord;)

Psalms 31:1-6 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.