Psalm 31-33

New King James Version

The Lord a Fortress in Adversity

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

31 In ^(A)You, O Lord, I ^[a]put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.
²^(B)Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of ^[b]refuge,
A ^[c]fortress of defense to save me.

³^(C)For You are my rock and my fortress;
Therefore, ^(D)for Your name’s sake,
Lead me and guide me.
⁴Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
⁵^(E)Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord God of ^(F)truth.

⁶I have hated those ^(G)who regard useless idols;
But I trust in the Lord.
⁷I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy,
For You have considered my trouble;
You have ^(H)known my soul in ^[d]adversities,
⁸And have not ^(I)shut^[e] me up into the hand of the enemy;
^(J)You have set my feet in a wide place.

⁹Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
^(K)My eye wastes away with grief,
Yes, my soul and my ^[f]body!
¹⁰For my life is spent with grief,
And my years with sighing;
My strength fails because of my iniquity,
And my bones waste away.
¹¹^(L)I am a ^[g]reproach among all my enemies,
But ^(M)especially among my neighbors,
And am repulsive to my acquaintances;
^(N)Those who see me outside flee from me.
¹²^(O)I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a ^[h]broken vessel.
¹³^(P)For I hear the slander of many;
^(Q)Fear is on every side;
While they ^(R)take counsel together against me,
They scheme to take away my life.

¹⁴But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵My times are in Your ^(S)hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.
¹⁶^(T)Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me for Your mercies’ sake.
¹⁷^(U)Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
^(V)Let them be silent in the grave.
¹⁸^(W)Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which ^(X)speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

¹⁹^(Y)Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
²⁰^(Z)You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
^(AA)You shall keep them secretly in a ^[i]pavilion
From the strife of tongues.

²¹Blessed be the Lord,
For ^(AB)He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a ^[j]strong city!
²²For I said in my haste,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried out to You.

²³Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
²⁴^(AC)Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.

The Joy of Forgiveness

A Psalm of David. A ^[k]Contemplation.

32 Blessed is he whose ^(AD)transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
²Blessed is the man to whom the Lord ^(AE)does not ^[l]impute iniquity,
And ^(AF)in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
⁴For day and night Your ^(AG)hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
⁵I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
^(AH)I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

⁶^(AI)For this cause everyone who is godly shall ^(AJ)pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.
⁷^(AK)You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with ^(AL)songs of deliverance. Selah

⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
⁹Do not be like the ^(AM)horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.

¹⁰^(AN)Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But ^(AO)he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
¹¹^(AP)Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

The Sovereignty of the Lord in Creation and History

33 Rejoice ^(AQ)in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
²Praise the Lord with the harp;
^[m]Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
³Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

⁴For the word of the Lord is right,
And all His work is done in truth.
⁵He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

⁶^(AR)By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the ^(AS)host of them ^(AT)by the breath of His mouth.
⁷^(AU)He gathers the waters of the sea together ^[n]as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
⁹For ^(AV)He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.

¹⁰^(AW)The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
¹¹^(AX)The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has ^(AY)chosen as His own inheritance.

¹³^(AZ)The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
¹⁴From the place of His dwelling He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;
¹⁵He fashions their hearts individually;
^(BA)He ^[o]considers all their works.

¹⁶^(BB)No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
¹⁷^(BC)A horse is a ^[p]vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.

¹⁸^(BD)Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,
¹⁹To deliver their soul from death,
And ^(BE)to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
²¹For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
²²Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.