11 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.
You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can't escape.
Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, [and] his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Yahweh who is faithful, [even] the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.
You have put lover and friend far from me, And my friends into darkness.
Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
"An evil disease," they say, "has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more." Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, Who ate bread with me, Has lifted up his heel against me.
Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. Did I say, 'Give to me?' Or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?' Or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'
At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them.
Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, "You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!" Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees,{TR omits "the Pharisees"} and the elders, said, "He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
"Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
For the son dishonors the father, The daughter rises up against her mother, The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man's enemies are the men of his own house.
He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we didn't respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, How I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples, With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh, With which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 31
Commentary on Psalms 31 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 31
It is probable that David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul; some passages in it agree particularly to the narrow escapes he had, at Keilah (1 Sa. 23:13), then in the wilderness of Maon, when Saul marched on one side of the hill and he on the other, and, soon after, in the cave in the wilderness of En-gedi; but that it was penned upon any of those occasions we are not told. It is a mixture of prayers, and praises, and professions of confidence in God, all which do well together and are helpful to one another.
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
Psa 31:1-8
Faith and prayer must go together. He that believes, let his pray-I believe, therefore I have spoken: and he that prays, let him believe, for the prayer of faith is the prevailing prayer. We have both here.
Psa 31:9-18
In the foregoing verses David had appealed to God's righteousness, and pleaded his relation to him and dependence on him; here he appeals to his mercy, and pleads the greatness of his own misery, which made his case the proper object of that mercy. Observe,
Psa 31:19-24
We have three things in these verses:-
In singing this we should animate ourselves and one another to proceed and persevere in our Christian course, whatever threatens us, and whoever frowns upon us.