PSALM 31

A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

1 aIn You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;

Let me never bbe ashamed;

cIn Your righteousness deliver me.

2 aIncline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;

Be to me a brock of 1strength,

A stronghold to save me.

3 For You are my 1rock and amy fortress;

For bYour name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.

4 You will apull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,

For You are my bstrength.

5 aInto Your hand I commit my spirit;

You have bransomed me, O Lord, cGod of 1truth.

6 I hate those who aregard 1vain idols,

But I btrust in the Lord.

7 I will arejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness,

Because You have bseen my affliction;

You have known the troubles of my soul,

8 And You have not agiven me over into the hand of the enemy;

You have set my feet in a large place.

9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for aI am in distress;

My beye is wasted away from grief, cmy soul and my body also.

10 For my life is spent with asorrow

And my years with sighing;

My bstrength has failed because of my iniquity,

And cmy 1body has wasted away.

11 Because of all my adversaries, I have become a areproach,

Especially to my bneighbors,

And an object of dread to my acquaintances;

Those who see me in the street flee from me.

12 I am aforgotten as a dead man, out of mind;

I am like a broken vessel.

13 For I have heard the 1aslander of many,

bTerror is on every side;

While they ctook counsel together against me,

They dschemed to take away my life.

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,

I say, “aYou are my God.”

15 My atimes are in Your hand;

bDeliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.

16 Make Your aface to shine upon Your servant;

bSave me in Your lovingkindness.

17 Let me not be aput to shame, O Lord, for I call upon You;

Let the bwicked be put to shame, let them cbe silent in 1Sheol.

18 Let the alying lips be mute,

Which bspeak arrogantly against the righteous

With pride and contempt.

19 How great is Your agoodness,

Which You have stored up for those who fear You,

Which You have wrought for those who btake refuge in You,

cBefore the sons of men!

20 You hide them in the asecret place of Your presence from the bconspiracies of man;

You keep them secretly in a 1shelter from the cstrife of tongues.

21 aBlessed be the Lord,

For He has made bmarvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged ccity.

22 As for me, aI said in my alarm,

“I am bcut off from before Your eyes”;

Nevertheless You cheard the voice of my supplications

When I cried to You.

23 O love the Lord, all you aHis godly ones!

The Lord bpreserves the faithful

And fully crecompenses the proud doer.

24 aBe strong and let your heart take courage,

All you who 1hope in the Lord.