Psalms · 24 verses

Psalms 31

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

In a city under siege, David says that the LORD has shown him loving devotion—and then remembers that, in his alarm, he thought himself cut off from God’s sight.

A refuge with a net in itvv. 1–8

David begins by placing himself in the LORD’s hands: refuge, rock, fortress, stronghold. The language builds a rather substantial shelter, though a net has been laid out for him beneath it. He asks to be led and guided, commits his spirit, rejects worthless idols, and rejoices that his feet have been set in the open.

The broken vessel and the returning trustvv. 9–18

Then the psalm turns inward and social. Distress consumes David’s life; sorrow weakens his eyes, soul, body, and bones. His enemies disgrace him, his neighbors do worse, and even his friends flee when they see him on the street. He is forgotten like a dead man and compares himself to a broken vessel, while slander and plots gather around him. Yet at the centre of this wreckage comes the plain sentence, “You are my God.” His times are in the LORD’s hands, and he asks that arrogant, lying lips be silenced.

The city under siegevv. 19–24

The psalm opens out into hidden goodness: a secret place, a shelter, protection from schemes and accusing tongues. David blesses the LORD for showing loving devotion in a city under siege, though neither the city nor the siege receives a name or an explanation. The alarm remains in the story, but so does the answer to it: the plea was heard. The final words turn towards the faithful and those who hope in the LORD.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Ps 31:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; save me by Your righteousness.
Ps 31:2Incline Your ear to me; come quickly to my rescue. Be my rock of refuge, the stronghold of my deliverance.
Ps 31:3For You are my rock and my fortress; lead me and guide me for the sake of Your name.
Ps 31:4You free me from the net laid out for me, for You are my refuge.
Ps 31:5Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.
Ps 31:6I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.
Ps 31:7I will be glad and rejoice in Your loving devotion, for You have seen my affliction; You have known the anguish of my soul.
Ps 31:8You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.
Ps 31:9Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.
Ps 31:10For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away.
Ps 31:11Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends—they flee when they see me on the street.
Ps 31:12I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel.
Ps 31:13For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side. They conspire against me and plot to take my life.
Ps 31:14But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”
Ps 31:15My times are in Your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.
Ps 31:16Make Your face shine on Your servant; save me by Your loving devotion.
Ps 31:17O LORD, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol.
Ps 31:18May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
Ps 31:19How great is Your goodness which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have bestowed before the sons of men on those who take refuge in You!
Ps 31:20You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues.
Ps 31:21Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown me His loving devotion in a city under siege.
Ps 31:22In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.
Ps 31:23Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.
Ps 31:24Be strong and courageous, all you who hope in the LORD.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 389 passages were voted onto 24 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

19 1 Corinthians 2:9Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
19 Isaiah 64:4From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
19 Lamentations 3:23–25They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
19 1 Peter 1:4–5and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,
19 Colossians 3:2–4Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
19 James 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
19 Psalms 16:11You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
19 1 John 3:1–2Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
19 2 Corinthians 5:5And it is God who has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.
19 John 3:21But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”
24 Psalms 27:14Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
19 Psalms 68:28Summon Your power, O God; show Your strength, O God, which You have exerted on our behalf.
19 Romans 11:22Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
24 Psalms 146:5Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
24 Colossians 1:11being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully
24 Isaiah 35:3–4Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

Onward

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