Psalm 31

¹ In you, LORD, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness.

² Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.

³ For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

⁴ Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold.

⁵ Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the LORD.

⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.

⁸ You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹ Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.

¹¹ Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

¹² I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.

¹³ For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.

¹⁴ But I trust in you, LORD. I said, “You are my God.”

¹⁵ My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

¹⁶ Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.

¹⁷ Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.

¹⁸ Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

¹⁹ Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

²¹ Praise be to the LORD, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

²² As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

²³ Oh love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

²⁴ Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.

Around Psalm 31

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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