Psalms 31:10-20

10 For my life hath been consumed in sorrow And my years in sighing. Feeble because of mine iniquity hath been my strength, And my bones have become old.

11 Among all mine adversaries I have been a reproach, And to my neighbours exceedingly, And a fear to mine acquaintances, Those seeing me without -- fled from me.

12 I have been forgotten as dead out of mind, I have been as a perishing vessel.

13 For I have heard an evil account of many, Fear [is] round about. In their being united against me, To take my life they have devised,

14 And I on Thee -- I have trusted, O Jehovah, I have said, `Thou [art] my God.'

15 In Thy hand [are] my times, Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from my pursuers.

16 Cause Thy face to shine on Thy servant, Save me in Thy kindness.

17 O Jehovah, let me not be ashamed, For I have called Thee, let the wicked be ashamed, Let them become silent to Sheol.

18 Let lips of falsehood become dumb, That are speaking against the righteous, Ancient sayings, in pride and contempt.

19 How abundant is Thy goodness, That Thou hast laid up for those fearing Thee,

20 Thou hast wrought for those trusting in Thee, Before sons of men. Thou hidest them in the secret place of Thy presence, From artifices of man, Thou concealest them in a tabernacle, From the strife of tongues.

Psalms 31:10-20 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.