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You Have Turned My Mourning into Dancing

A Psalm. A Song at the Dedication of the House. Of David.

30 I will (A)exalt You, O Yahweh, for You have (B)lifted me up,
And have not let my (C)enemies be glad over me.
O Yahweh my God,
I (D)cried to You for help, and You (E)healed me.
O Yahweh, You have (F)brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, [a]that I would not (G)go down to the pit.
(H)Sing praise to Yahweh, you (I)His holy ones,
And (J)give thanks for the (K)remembrance of His holy name.
For (L)His anger is but for a moment,
His (M)favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may (N)last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I will (O)never be shaken.”
O Yahweh, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You (P)hid Your face, I was dismayed.
To You, O Yahweh, I called,
And to the Lord I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my blood, if I (Q)go down to the pit?
Will the (R)dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?

10 (S)Hear, O Yahweh, and be gracious to me;
O Yahweh, be my (T)helper.”
11 You have turned for me (U)my mourning into dancing;
You have (V)loosed my sackcloth and girded me with (W)gladness,
12 That my [b](X)glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Yahweh my God, I will (Y)give thanks to You forever.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 30:3 Some mss from among those who go down
  2. Psalm 30:12 Or soul

Psalm 30[a]

Thanksgiving for Deliverance

A psalm. A song for the dedication of the Temple.[b] Of David.

I

I praise you, Lord, for you raised me up
    and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, my God,
    I cried out to you for help and you healed[c] me.
Lord, you brought my soul up from Sheol;
    you let me live, from going down to the pit.[d](A)

II

Sing praise to the Lord, you faithful;
    give thanks to his holy memory.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
    his favor a lifetime.
At dusk weeping comes for the night;
    but at dawn there is rejoicing.

III

Complacent,[e] I once said,
    “I shall never be shaken.”
Lord, you showed me favor,
    established for me mountains of virtue.
But when you hid your face
    I was struck with terror.(B)
To you, Lord, I cried out;
    with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:
10 [f]“What gain is there from my lifeblood,
    from my going down to the grave?
Does dust give you thanks
    or declare your faithfulness?
11 Hear, O Lord, have mercy on me;
    Lord, be my helper.”

IV

12 You changed my mourning into dancing;
    you took off my sackcloth
    and clothed me with gladness.(C)
13 So that my glory may praise you
    and not be silent.
O Lord, my God,
    forever will I give you thanks.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 30 An individual thanksgiving in four parts: praise and thanks for deliverance and restoration (Ps 30:2–4); an invitation to others to join in (Ps 30:5–6); a flashback to the time before deliverance (Ps 30:7–11); a return to praise and thanks (Ps 30:12). Two sets of images recur: 1) going down, death, silence; 2) coming up, life, praising. God has delivered the psalmist from one state to the other.
  2. 30:1 For the dedication of the Temple: a later adaptation of the Psalm to celebrate the purification of the Temple in 164 B.C. during the Maccabean Revolt.
  3. 30:3 Healed: for God as healer, see also Ps 103:3; 107:20; Hos 6:1; 7:1; 11:3; 14:5.
  4. 30:4 Sheol…pit: the shadowy underworld residence of the spirits of the dead, here a metaphor for near-death.
  5. 30:7 Complacent: untroubled existence is often seen as a source of temptation to forget God, cf. Dt 8:10–18; Hos 13:6; Prv 30:9.
  6. 30:10 In the stillness of Sheol no one gives you praise; let me live and be among your worshipers, cf. Ps 6:6; 88:11–13; 115:17; Is 38:18.