Mazmur 31:1-4

Psalm 31 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

31:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Vindicate me by rescuing me! ² 

31:2 Listen to me! ³ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ⁴ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ⁵ 

31:3 For you are my high ridge ⁶  and my stronghold;

for the sake of your own reputation ⁷  you lead me and guide me. ⁸ 

31:4 You will free me ⁹  from the net they hid for me,

for you are my place of refuge.

Mazmur 31:18-23

31:18 May lying lips be silenced –

lips ¹⁰  that speak defiantly against the innocent ¹¹ 

with arrogance and contempt!

31:19 How great is your favor, ¹² 

which you store up for your loyal followers! ¹³ 

In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter ¹⁴  in you. ¹⁵ 

31:20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks ¹⁶  of men; ¹⁷ 

you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks. ¹⁸ 

31:21 The Lord deserves praise ¹⁹ 

for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies. ²⁰ 

31:22 I jumped to conclusions and said, ²¹ 

“I am cut off from your presence!” ²² 

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

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ²³  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ²⁴ 

[31:1]  ¹ sn 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.

[31:1]  ² tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”

[31:2]  ³ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[31:3]  ⁶ sn 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.

[31:3]  ⁷ tn 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.)

[31:3]  ⁸ tn 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).

[31:4]  ⁹ tn 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.”

[31:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the [ones which].”

[31:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “godly.”

[31:19]  ¹² tn Or “How abundant are your blessings!”

[31:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “for those who fear you.”

[31:19]  ¹⁴ tn “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).

[31:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you work [your favor] for the ones seeking shelter in you before the sons of men.”

[31:20]  ¹⁶ tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.”

[31:20]  ¹⁷ tn 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.

[31:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”

[31:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[31:21]  ²⁰ tn 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.

[31:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.”

[31:22]  ²² tn Heb “from before your eyes.”

[31:23]  ²³ tn 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).

[31:23]  ²⁴ tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.