Psalm 31-33

New Life Version

Prayer of Trust in God

31 O Lord, in You I have found a safe place. Let me never be ashamed. Set me free, because You do what is right and good. ² Turn Your ear to me, and be quick to save me. Be my rock of strength, a strong place to keep me safe. ³ For You are my rock and my safe place. For the honor of Your name, lead me and show me the way. ⁴ You will free me from the net that they have hidden for me. For You are my strength. ⁵ I give my spirit into Your hands. You have made me free, O Lord, God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who worship false gods. But I trust in the Lord. ⁷ I will be glad and full of joy in Your loving-kindness. For You have seen my suffering. You have known the troubles of my soul. ⁸ You have not given me into the hand of those who hate me. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹ Show me loving-kindness, O Lord, for I am in trouble. My eyes, my soul and my body are becoming weak from being sad. ¹⁰ For my life gets weaker with sorrow, and my years with crying inside myself. My strength has left me because of my sin. And my bones waste away. ¹¹ Because of all those who hate me, I have become a shame to my neighbors. Even my friends do not want to be with me. Those who see me on the street run from me. ¹² I am forgotten like a dead man and they do not think about me. I am like a broken pot. ¹³ For I have heard many say things to hurt me. Fear is on every side. They planned together against me. They thought of ways to take away my life.

¹⁴ But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord. I say, “You are my God.” ¹⁵ My times are in Your hands. Free me from the hands of those who hate me, and from those who try to hurt me. ¹⁶ Make Your face shine upon Your servant. Save me in Your loving-kindness. ¹⁷ Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord. For I call to You. Let the sinful be put to shame. Let them be quiet in the grave. ¹⁸ Let the lying lips be quiet. For they speak with pride and hate those who do right and good.

¹⁹ How great is Your loving-kindness! You have stored it up for those who fear You. You show it to those who trust in You in front of the sons of men. ²⁰ You will hide them with You in secret from the sinful plans of men. You keep them in Your tent in secret from those who fight with tongues. ²¹ Honor and thanks be to the Lord. For He has shown His great loving-favor to me when I was in a city with armies all around. ²² In my fear I said, “You have closed Your eyes to me!” But You heard my cry for loving-kindness when I called to You.

²³ Love the Lord, all you who belong to Him! The Lord keeps the faithful safe. But He gives the proud their pay in full. ²⁴ Be strong. Be strong in heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Joy of Being Forgiven

32 How happy he is whose wrong-doing is forgiven, and whose sin is covered! ² How happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not hold against him, and in whose spirit there is nothing false.

³ When I kept quiet about my sin, my bones wasted away from crying all day long. ⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as in the hot summer. ⁵ I told my sin to You. I did not hide my wrong-doing. I said, “I will tell my sins to the Lord.” And You forgave the guilt of my sin. ⁶ So let all who are God-like pray to You while You may be found, because in the floods of much water, they will not touch him. ⁷ You are my hiding place. You keep me safe from trouble. All around me are your songs of being made free.

⁸ I will show you and teach you in the way you should go. I will tell you what to do with My eye upon you. ⁹ Do not be like the horse or the donkey which have no understanding. They must be made to work by using bits and leather ropes or they will not come to you. ¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the sinful. But loving-kindness will be all around the man who trusts in the Lord. ¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and be full of joy, you who are right with God! Sing for joy all you who are pure in heart!

Song of Praise

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, you who are right with Him. It is right for the pure in heart to praise Him. ² Give thanks to the Lord with harps. Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. ³ Sing to Him a new song. Play well with loud sounds of joy. ⁴ For the Word of the Lord is right. He is faithful in all He does. ⁵ He loves what is right and good and what is fair. The earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.

⁶ The heavens were made by the Word of the Lord. All the stars were made by the breath of His mouth. ⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a bag. He places the waters in store-houses. ⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the people of the world honor Him. ⁹ For He spoke, and it was done. He spoke with strong words, and it stood strong. ¹⁰ The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He wrecks the plans of the people. ¹¹ The plans of the Lord stand forever. The plans of His heart stand through the future of all people. ¹² Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord. Happy are the people He has chosen for His own.

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. ¹⁴ From where He sits He looks upon all who live on the earth. ¹⁵ He made the hearts of them all. And He understands whatever they do. ¹⁶ No king is saved by the power of his strong army. A soldier is not saved by great strength. ¹⁷ A horse cannot be trusted to win a battle. Its great strength cannot save anyone.

¹⁸ See, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, and on those who hope for His loving-kindness, ¹⁹ to save their soul from death, and to keep them alive when there is nothing to eat. ²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our safe cover. ²¹ For our heart is full of joy in Him, because we trust in His holy name. ²² O Lord, let Your loving-kindness be upon us as we put our hope in You.