= Psalm 31 * Please see [[nsv:license|License]] for Copyright notice and Licensing information. * [ [[Psalm_30|Previous]] | [[Psalm_32|Next]] ] == Psalm 31 1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. 2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. 3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. 6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; 8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room. 9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. 13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. 14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. 15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. 17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. 19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! 20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. 21 Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. 22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. 23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. 24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. == Notes == Cross Reference == Concordance == Commentary == Rashi ==== Verse 3 a stronghold Pleysiz in Old French, a fortress. ==== Verse 4 You shall lead me Heb. תנחני, mene moi in French, lead me, as (in Exod. 32:34): “go lead (נחה) the people.” ==== Verse 6 I entrust Heb. אפקיד, komondere in Old French, I will entrust. I always entrust my spirit because You redeemed me from trouble. ==== Verse 7 those who await worthless vanities Who await the salvation of pagan deities. ==== Verse 9 deliver me Heb. הסגרתני, livras moi in French, but Menachem (p. 125) associated it as an expression of closing, and likewise every expression of סגר. ==== Verse 10 is dimmed Heb. עששה, an expression of a lantern, עששית. If a person puts glass in front of his eyes to see something on the other side of the glass, the appearance (of that thing) is unclear. ==== Verse 11 and my bones have decayed Heb. עששו, an expression of decay, as though a moth (עש) had eaten them. ==== Verse 12 From all my tormentors From all my tormentors [not because of my tormentors]. I have become a reproach Heb. חרפה, a reproach. to my neighbors I am very much a reproach. and fright to my acquaintances A mes connaissances in French, to my acquaintances. They are frightened by what happens to me. ==== Verse 13 like a lost utensil Which is in the process of becoming lost. Any expression of אבדה, loss, does not refer to the owner of the lost article, saying that he lost it, but that the lost article is lost from him, as is stated (in Deut. 22:3): “which will be lost from him”; (in Ezek. 34:4), “the lost one you did not seek.” ==== Verse 14 the gossip of many Heb. דבת, the counsel of many. דבת is an expression of (Song 7:10): “making the lips of the sleeping speak (דבב).” Likewise, every דבת in Scripture, parledic in Old French, gossip (so Gen. 37:2, Num. 14:36, Ezek. 36:3). terror from all sides that they scare and frighten me. when they take counsel Heb. בהוסדם, when they take counsel. they plotted Heb. זממו, an expression of thought. ==== Verse 16 My times are in Your hands The times that pass over me are through Your orders and by Your decrees. ==== Verse 18 let me not be shamed because I called out to You Since I called You, it is not fitting that I should be shamed. let them be silenced to the grave Heb. ידמו, let them be silenced and made dumb to die. ==== Verse 19 that speak against a righteous man falsely That say to Saul concerning me, “David seeks to harm you.” falsely Heb. עתק, untruth, something unfounded, as (Gen. 12:8): “And he moved (ויעתק) from there” [i.e., something removed from the truth]. Dunash (pp. 17f.) however, interpreted it as an expression of a great and strong thing, as (in Job 21:7): “grow strong (עתקו) and powerfully rich”; (Prov. 8:18), “powerful (עתק) wealth”; (Isa. 23:18), “and for stately (עתקו) clothing.” ==== Verse 20 How great is Your goodness I knew that those who fear You have good reward in the world to come, nevertheless, in this world, because the wicked surround them, I pray for them that You hide them in the secrecy of Your countenance. ==== Verse 21 from bands of men Heb. מרכסי, from the groups of wicked men who group together to harm them. ==== Verse 22 for He has been wondrously kind to me in a beseiged city In Keilah, when Saul said concerning me (I Sam. 23:7): “for he has been shut in by coming into a city with doors and bars.” ==== Verse 23 But I said in my haste When I left Keilah and came to the desert of Maon, I was hastening to leave because Saul and his men were surrounding me and my men, to seize us. I said in my heart. I have been cut off Heb. נגרזתי, I have been cut off, an expression of an ax (גרזן) which cuts the tree. Because of its cutting (גרזתו), it is called גרזן, an ax. This is how Dunash explained it (p. 57). (Menachem, however, defined it like נגרשתי, I have driven out, but it has no parallel in the Torah. (p. 59). ==== Verse 24 The Lord guards those who believe in His salvation and rely on Him. with a bowstring Heb. יתר (with measure for measure and with exactitude, like an arrow on a bowstring. Not in all editions.) Or, יתר can be interpreted as a rope for a rope, a line for a line. Another interpretation: יתר is an expression of haughtiness, as (in Isa. 15:7): “Because of the haughtiness (יתרה) with which they acted.” ==== Verse 25 Strengthen yourselves, and He will give your heart courage as you see that He did for me, to save me because I hoped for Him.