20 In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.
For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the covert of his tent he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.
You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, From the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil; Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And aim their arrows, deadly words, To shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly.
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and don't lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
The proud have hidden a snare for me, They have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Yahweh, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in whom I trust." For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, And they don't hold regard for you before them.
Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, And doesn't respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak; They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods because of the thing in which they dealt arrogantly against them."
So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.{Gehenna is a name that describes a burning Hell with rotting bodies and unclean things in it}
Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper's poison is under their lips. Selah.
For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don't desire; that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, riots;
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.