Psalms 31
Big idea: The psalm Jesus quoted last: into your hand I commend my spirit. In its own setting it is not a dying man's line but a living man's — commend means deposit, the word for handing valuables to someone for safekeeping. Around it the psalm describes social death with unusual precision: contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances, people crossing the street, forgotten from their hearts like a dead man, like broken pottery. And then the sentence the whole thing hangs on, five words long: my times are in your hand.
Psalm 31 hands over a spirit. Psalm 32 hands over a sin.
31:1–8 — Into your hand I commend my spirit
The first movement is architecture — rock, house of defence, fortress, stronghold, four structures in four verses — and then at its centre a sentence that has outlived every other line in the psalm. 'Into your hand I commend my spirit' is the last thing Jesus says from the cross, and here it is not a dying word at all but a deposit: the verb is the one for entrusting property to someone's keeping while you are away.
1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. In you, Yahweh, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness. 2 Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me. 3 For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me. 4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold. 5 Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth. 6 I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in Yahweh. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities. 8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
31:9–18 — My times are in your hand
The floor falls out. Nine verses earlier he had been set in a large place; here he is broken pottery that people cross the street to avoid, and the psalm makes the social damage as concrete as the physical — a horror to acquaintances, forgotten like a dead man. Then 'but I trust in you', and immediately after it the line the whole psalm is remembered for. 'My times are in your hand' comes from the man who has just been discarded, not from one who was spared.
9 Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief. 10 For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away. 11 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me. 12 I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery. 13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life. 14 But I trust in you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. 16 Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness. 17 Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol. 18 Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
31:19–24 — Oh how great is your goodness
The last movement praises something the psalm has not yet received: goodness LAID UP, stored for later, in front of everyone. And then verse 22 does the honest thing — it quotes what he said at the worst moment and calls it haste. 'I am cut off from before your eyes' was wrong, and the psalm reports both the sentence and the correction rather than quietly editing it out.
19 Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men! 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. 21 Praise be to Yahweh, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city. 22 As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you. 23 Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly. 24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in Yahweh.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).