16 Cause Thy face to shine on Thy servant, Save me in Thy kindness.
Many are saying, `Who doth show us good?' Lift on us the light of Thy face, O Jehovah,
Turn back, O Jehovah, draw out my soul, Save me for Thy kindness' sake.
`Jehovah cause His face to shine upon thee, and favour thee; `Jehovah lift up His countenance upon thee, and appoint for thee -- peace.
O Jehovah, in Thy good pleasure, Thou hast caused strength to remain for my mountain,' Thou hast hidden Thy face -- I have been troubled.
To the Overseer, with stringed instruments. -- A Psalm, a Song. God doth favour us and bless us, Doth cause His face to shine with us. Selah.
God of Hosts, turn us back, And cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved.
And remembereth for them His covenant, And is comforted, According to the abundance of His kindness.
`To the Lord our God `are' the mercies and the forgivenesses, for we have rebelled against Him,
and now, hearken, O our God, unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, and cause Thy face to shine on Thy sanctuary that `is' desolate, for the Lord's sake. `Incline, O my God, Thine ear, and hear, open Thine eyes and see our desolations, and the city on which Thy name is called; for not for our righteous acts are we causing our supplications to fall before Thee, but for Thy mercies that `are' many.
for to Moses He saith, `I will do kindness to whom I do kindness, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion;'
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of kindness, that He before prepared for glory, whom also He did call -- us --
and God, being rich in kindness, because of His great love with which He loved us, even being dead in the trespasses, did make us to live together with the Christ, (by grace ye are having been saved,) and did raise `us' up together, and did seat `us' together in the heavenly `places' in Christ Jesus, that He might show, in the ages that are coming, the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,
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.