Psalms 31:7-17

7 I will be glad and rejoice because of your constant love. You see my suffering; you know my trouble.

8 You have not let my enemies capture me; you have given me freedom to go where I wish.

9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are tired from so much crying; I am completely worn out.

10 I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened my life. I am weak from all my troubles; even my bones are wasting away.

11 All my enemies, and especially my neighbors, treat me with contempt. Those who know me are afraid of me; when they see me in the street, they run away.

12 Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead; I am like something thrown away.

13 I hear many enemies whispering; terror is all around me. They are making plans against me, plotting to kill me.

14 But my trust is in you, O Lord; you are my God.

15 I am always in your care; save me from my enemies, from those who persecute me.

16 Look on your servant with kindness; save me in your constant love.

17 I call to you, Lord; don't let me be disgraced. May the wicked be disgraced; may they go silently down to the world of the dead.

Psalms 31:7-17 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some ancient translations] troubles; [Hebrew] iniquity.