Worn out in mind and body, despised, defamed, and persecuted, the Psalmist casts himself upon God. Faith upholds him as he recalls past mercies; despondency overwhelms him as he thinks of his present distress; till the clouds clear, and the sunlight of God's goodness floods his soul. The Psalm fall... [ Continue Reading ]
_do I put my trust_ Have I taken refuge. Cp. Psalms 7:1 (note); Psalms 11:1; Psalms 16:1; Psalms 25:20. _let me never be ashamed_ Disappointed and confounded by finding that my trust was vain. Cp. Psalms 31:17; Psalms 25:2; Psalms 25:20; Psalms 22:5. _in thy righteousness_ To desert His servant ... [ Continue Reading ]
The prayer of faith, Psalms 31:1 are repeated in that beautiful mosaic, Psalms 71; and Psalms 31:1 _a_forms the close of the _Te Deum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bow down_ Or, _incline_, as in Psalms 17:6; &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be thou_&c. Lit. _Become_(LXX γενοῦ) _to me a stronghold-rock, a fortress-house to save me: for_(he goes on to give the ground of his prayer) _thou art my cliff and my fortress_: i.e. prove Thyself to be what I know Thou art. "It is the logic of every believing prayer." _Delitzsch_. For the figures... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou wilt bring me out of the net … for thou art my strong hold. He compares his insidious enemies to hunters or fowlers, as in Psalms 9:15; Psalms 25:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I commit_&c. Or, as P.B.V. and R.V., I commend my spirit. To God's care he entrusts as a precious deposit the life inbreathed by God Himself (Job 10:12; Job 17:1). The context makes it plain that it is for the preservation of his life that he thus entrusts himself to God; but the further applicatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have hated_ Better, as R.V., I hate. He disclaims all sympathy and fellowship with the worshippers of false gods. But the LXX, Vulg., Syr., Jer. read, thou hatest (cp. Psalms 5:5). This reading gives the contrast required by the next line, which must be rendered, but as for me, I trust in Jehovah... [ Continue Reading ]
Let me be glad and rejoice in thy lovingkindness: For thou hast seen my affliction; Thou hast taken knowledge of the distresses of my soul. An entreaty, based upon past experience. Here, and in Psalms 31:8, as well as in 5 _b_, it is more natural to understand the perfect tenses to refer to past... [ Continue Reading ]
_hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy_ Hast not surrendered me into his power. Cp. Deu 32:30; 1 Samuel 23:11-12 (A.V. _deliver up_). _thou hast set_&c. Lit. _thou hast made my feet to stand in a large_(or, _wide) place_; enabled me to move and act with freedom. Cp. Psalms 4:1; Psalms 18:1... [ Continue Reading ]
Be gracious unto me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress: Mine eye is wasted away because of provocation, yea, my soul and my body. Cp. Psalms 6:7 _a_; amplified here by the addition of _my soul and my body_(Psalms 44:25).... [ Continue Reading ]
The tone of the Psalm changes. The recollection of past mercies brings present suffering into sharper relief. "A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things." This part of the Psalm reminds us of Psalms 6, and of Jeremiah's complaints.... [ Continue Reading ]
_grief_ R.V. sorrow, as in Psalms 13:2; Jeremiah 8:18. _sighing_ Or, _groaning_, as in Psalms 6:6. _my strength_&c. My strength totters because of mine Iniquity, and my bones are wasted away. There was then some sin which called for chastisement, or required the discipline of suffering. But the LX... [ Continue Reading ]
Because of all mine adversaries I am become a reproach, Yea, unto my neighbours exceedingly. (R.V.) The original is as awkward as the translation, and we should probably connect _because of all mine adversaries_with the previous verse, and read, _I am become a reproach unto my neighbours exceeding... [ Continue Reading ]
As a dead man passes out of men's minds, so he is forgotten. Cp. Job 19:14. He is like a broken (lit. _perishing_) vessel, flung aside contemptuously and no more remembered. Cp. (though the phrase there is different) Jeremiah 22:28 (R.V.).... [ Continue Reading ]
For I have heard the defaming of many, Terror on every side (R.V.). Jeremiah uses these very words to describe his plight (Jeremiah 20:10). _Terror on every side_is a favourite phrase with him (Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 20:3-4; Jeremiah 46:5; Jeremiah 49:29; Lamentations 2:22). _they devised_&c. Jer... [ Continue Reading ]
Render: But as for me, on thee do I trust O Lord: I have said, &c. Men turn from him, but he turns to God. Cp. Psalms 31:6; Psalms 16:2; Psalms 140:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_My times_&c. Cp. 1 Chronicles 29:30. The vicissitudes of my life are all under Thy control.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. the paraphrase in P.B.V., _Shew thy servant the light of thy countenance_: and see note on Psalms 4:6. _for thy mercy's sake_ R.V. in thy lovingkindness, as in Psalms 31:7_; Psalms 31:21_.... [ Continue Reading ]
The prayer of Psalms 31:1 is repeated. While my prayers are answered, let my enemies be silenced and consigned to Sheol. A similar prayer in Psalms 25:2-3; Jeremiah 17:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Let the lying lips be dumb; Which speak against the righteous arrogantly, In pride and contempt. Cp. Psalms 12:3; Psalms 94:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
God's goodness to those who fear Him is like an inexhaustible treasure stored up, and at the proper time brought out and used for _them that take refuge_(as Psalms 31:1) in Him; and this publicly in the sight of man. Cf. Psalms 23:5. With R.V. place a comma after _trust in thee_, and connect _before... [ Continue Reading ]
Can the author of this serenely joyous thanksgiving be the despised and downcast sufferer of Psalms 31:9? If so, it was surely not at the same moment. An interval has elapsed; his prayer has been answered; the danger is past.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou shalt hide them In the hiding-place of thy presence from the plottings of man: Thou shalt conceal them In a pavilion from the strife of tongues. With the whole verse cp. Psalms 27:5; but _the hiding place of thy tent_is here spiritualised into _the hiding place of thy presence_(lit. _face_as... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed be the Lord_ Cp. Psalms 28:6. _he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness_ Lit. _he hath made marvellous his lovingkindness to me_, as in Psalms 17:7. _in a strong city_ Either, _as in a strong city_, putting me out of the reach of my enemies as it were in a fortified city; or, _as a stron... [ Continue Reading ]
Thanksgiving: but is it for deliverance anticipated by faith or for deliverance already experienced? Surely the latter.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I said_&c. But as for me, I said In my haste (or, _alarm_). Humbly he confesses his want of faith in the hour of trial, when he thought himself out of God's sight, and contrasts it with God's goodness. Cp. Psalms 30:6; Psalms 116:2. With 22 _a_cp. Jonah 2:4: with 22 _b_cp. Psalms 28:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Concluding exhortation to the faithful. Cp. Psalms 30:4; Psalms 27:14; Psalms 32:11. _preserveth the faithful_ Or, _keepeth faithfulness_. Cf. Exodus 34:7, note. _plentifully rewardeth the proud doer_ The judgment of the wicked is, in the view of the O.T., the necessary complement of the triumph o... [ Continue Reading ]
Be strong, and let your heart take courage (R.V.), as in Psalms 27:14. _all ye that hope in the Lord_ Or, _wait for_. The phrase links this Psalm to Psalms 33. See Psalms 31:18_; Psalms 31:22_. Comp. too Psalms 33:18 with Psalms 31:22.... [ Continue Reading ]