Psalms 31 (NET)

Psalm 311

1 For the music director; a psalm of David.

In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Vindicate me by rescuing me!2

2 Listen to me!3

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge,4

a stronghold where I can be safe!5

3 For you are my high ridge6 and my stronghold;

for the sake of your own reputation7 you lead me and guide me.8

4 You will free me9 from the net they hid for me,

for you are my place of refuge.

5 Into your hand I entrust my life;10

you will rescue11 me, O Lord, the faithful God.

6 I hate those who serve worthless idols,12

but I trust in the Lord.

7 I will be happy and rejoice in your faithfulness,

because you notice my pain

and you are aware of how distressed I am.13

8 You do not deliver me over to the power of the enemy;

you enable me to stand14 in a wide open place.

9 Have mercy on me, for I am in distress!

My eyes grow dim15 from suffering.16

I have lost my strength.17

10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan.18

My strength fails me because of19 my sin,

and my bones become brittle.20

11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me;21

my neighbors are appalled by my suffering22 –

those who know me are horrified by my condition;23

those who see me in the street run away from me.

12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about;24

I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar.25

13 For I hear what so many are saying,26

the terrifying news that comes from every direction.27

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

14 But I trust in you, O Lord!

I declare, “You are my God!”

15 You determine my destiny!28

Rescue me from the power of my enemies and those who chase me.

16 Smile29 on your servant!

Deliver me because of your faithfulness!

17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,

for I call out to you!

May evil men be humiliated!

May they go wailing to the grave!30

18 May lying lips be silenced –

lips31 that speak defiantly against the innocent32

with arrogance and contempt!

19 How great is your favor,33

which you store up for your loyal followers!34

In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter35 in you.36

20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks37 of men;38

you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks.39

21 The Lord deserves praise40

for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies.41

22 I jumped to conclusions and said,42

“I am cut off from your presence!”43

But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.

23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers44 of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly.45

24 Be strong and confident,46

all you who wait on the Lord!

1sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him. 2tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.” 3tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.” 4tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.” 5tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.” 6sn The metaphor of the high ridge pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28. 7tn Heb “name.” The Hebrew term שֵׁם (shem, “name”) refers here to the Lord’s reputation. (The English term “name” is often used the same way.) 8tn The present translation assumes that the imperfect verbal forms are generalizing, “you lead me and guide me.” Other options are to take them as an expression of confidence about the future, “you will lead me and guide me” (cf. NASB), or as expressing a prayer, “lead me and guide me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). 9tn Heb “bring me out.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form expresses the psalmist’s confidence about the future. Another option is to take the form as expressing a prayer, “free me.” 10tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life. 11tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew. 12tn Heb “the ones who observe vain things of falsehood.” See Jonah 2:9. 13tn Heb “you know the distresses of my life.” 14tn Heb “you cause my feet to stand.” 15tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.” 16tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line. 17tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure. 18tn Heb “and my years in groaning.” 19tn Heb “stumbles in.” 20tn Heb “grow weak.” 21tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.” 22tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27). 23tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.” 24tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts. 25tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless. 26tn Heb “the report of many.” 27tn Heb “the terror from all around.” 28tn Heb “in your hand [are] my times.” 29tn Heb “cause your face to shine.” 30tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.” 31tn Heb “the [ones which].” 32tn Or “godly.” 33tn Or “How abundant are your blessings!” 34tn Heb “for those who fear you.” 35tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 34:21-22). 36tn Heb “you work [your favor] for the ones seeking shelter in you before the sons of men.” 37tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.” 38tn Heb “you hide them in the hiding place of your face from the attacks of man.” The imperfect verbal forms in this verse draw attention to God’s typical treatment of the faithful. 39tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.” 40tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.” 41tn Heb “for he caused his faithfulness to be amazing to me in a besieged city.” The psalmist probably speaks figuratively here. He compares his crisis to being trapped in a besieged city, but the Lord answered his prayer for help. Verses 19-24 were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18. 42tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.” 43tn Heb “from before your eyes.” 44tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). 45tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud. 46tn Heb “be strong and let your heart[s] be confident.”