Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 31 (MT) / Psalm 30 (LXX) is a Davidic lament with one of the NT's most Christologically-loaded lines: 'Into your hand I commit my spirit' (v. 6) — the very sentence Jesus utters as his final word from the cross at Luke 23:46. Stephen's dying cry at Acts 7:59 ('Lord Jesus, receive my spirit') echoes the same psalm. The psalm moves through betrayal, isolation, and trust, closing with a call for all the faithful to love the LORD.
Notable Variants
31:6 'into your hand I commit my spirit' → Luke 23:46 Jesus' final word verbatim from LXX and Acts 7:59 Stephen's echo; 31:14 'I am forgotten like a dead man out of mind … a broken vessel' as type of crucified-Messiah; 31:19 'how abundant is your goodness' as thanksgiving-formula for divine-storage of blessing.
Structural Notes
MT Ps 31 = LXX Ps 30. 25 verses (MT/LXX), 24 verses (English numbering, which omits the superscription).
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
Superscription tracks MT.
In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge. Let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, deliver me.
'In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame' tracks MT. The refuge-and-no-shame combination anticipates Romans 10:11's 'whoever believes in him will not be put to shame' (citing Isa 28:16 LXX) — a Pauline not-put-to-shame soteriology.
Turn your ear toward me — rescue me quickly. Be a rock of strength for me, a fortified house to save me.
'Incline your ear to me; deliver me speedily' tracks MT.
For you are my rock and my fortress. For the sake of your name, lead me and guide me.
'Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me' tracks MT. 1 Cor 10:4 ('that rock was Christ') retrospectively reads the divine-rock language Christologically.
Pull me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.
'You are my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake you lead me and guide me' tracks MT. The 'for your name's sake' motive-of-divine-action — God acts for the integrity of his own Name — is a covenantal-theology staple (cf. Ezek 36:22).
Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.
Masoretic (WLC)
בְּיָדְךָ אַפְקִיד רוּחִי פָּדִיתָה אוֹתִי יְהוָה אֵל אֱמֶת
Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth
Septuagint (LXX)
εἰς χεῖράς σου παραθήσομαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐλυτρώσω με κύριε ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἀληθείας
Into your hands I will commend my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth
LUKE 23:46 — JESUS' FINAL WORD FROM THE CROSS. Luke 23:46 has: 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit' (Pater, eis cheiras sou paratithemai to pneuma mou). The verb-tense shifts from LXX's future (paratheēsomai) to present (paratithemai), but the wording is otherwise verbatim from Psalm 31:6 LXX. This is Jesus' seventh and final cross-saying — the last of the seven last-words.
ACTS 7:59 — STEPHEN'S ECHO. The protomartyr Stephen dies with a Christologically-refashioned version: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit' (kyrie Iēsou, dexai to pneuma mou). Stephen prays to Jesus in Jesus' own psalm — the psalm thus becomes a template for Christian dying-well.
The Davidic 'I commit' becomes the Messianic Son's final act of filial trust — Luke's theological-narrative making the cross the site of completed-Psalm-piety, not abandoned-Psalm-22-lament (Matt/Mark's cry). The two cross-cries (Matt/Mark's Ps 22:2 // Luke's Ps 31:6) supply complementary theological portraits: abandonment-then-vindication.
I despise those who cling to worthless idols, but I — I trust in the LORD.
'I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols' tracks MT. The idol-critique of Ps 96:5, Jer 10:3, and 1 Cor 8:4 extends this theme.
I will rejoice and be glad in your faithful love, for you have seen my affliction — you have known the distress of my soul.
'I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy' tracks MT.
You have not handed me over to the enemy. You have set my feet in a wide-open place.
'You have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy' tracks MT.
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress. My eye wastes away from grief — my soul and my body as well.
'Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress' tracks MT.
My life is spent in sorrow, and my years in groaning. My strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones waste away.
'My life is spent with grief' tracks MT — the wasting-away-in-sorrow language the Lamentations-tradition shares.
Because of all my adversaries I have become a disgrace — especially to my neighbors — and a terror to my friends. Those who see me in the street flee from me.
'I am a reproach to all my enemies' tracks MT.
I am forgotten like a dead man, gone from the heart. I have become like a shattered vessel.
'I am forgotten like one who is dead, out of mind; I have become like a broken vessel' tracks MT. The 'broken vessel' image — Jeremiah 19's shattered-pot prophetic-sign echoes, and 2 Cor 4:7's 'treasure in earthen vessels' (en ostrakinois skeuesin) ironically inverts — the fragile-vessel holds divine-treasure.
For I have heard the whispering of many — terror on every side! — as they conspire together against me, plotting to take my life.
'For I hear the whispering of many — terror on every side' tracks MT. Jeremiah 20:10 ('terror on every side' — magor-missaviv) uses the same phrase as Jeremiah's standing epithet for his enemies.
But I — I trust in you, O LORD. I say, 'You are my God.'
'But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, You are my God' tracks MT. The 'my God' covenantal-confession language — a pattern John 20:28's 'my Lord and my God' extends Christologically.
My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me.
'My times are in your hand' tracks MT. The times-in-your-hand formula — divine-chronology-sovereignty — a theme that Ecclesiastes 3 and Acts 1:7 also develop.
Let your face shine upon your servant. Save me in your faithful love.
'Make your face shine on your servant' tracks MT. The Aaronic-blessing echo (Num 6:25).
O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be shamed; let them be silenced in Sheol.
'Let me not be put to shame, O LORD' tracks MT.
Let lying lips be struck silent — those that speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt.
'Let the lying lips be silenced' tracks MT.
How abundant is your goodness that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you have worked for those who take refuge in you in the sight of all people!
'How abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you' tracks MT. The stored-goodness image — divine-treasury of blessings — anticipates 1 Cor 2:9 ('what no eye has seen') and Col 1:5 ('the hope stored up for you in heaven').
You hide them in the shelter of your presence from the schemes of men. You store them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
'You hide them in the shelter of your presence' tracks MT. Divine-hiding in God's presence theology — a theme Col 3:3 ('your life is hidden with Christ in God') develops Christologically.
Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown me His wondrous faithful love in a city under siege.
'Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown me his steadfast love' tracks MT. Besieged-city imagery reinforces the divine-rescue concept.
I had said in my alarm, 'I am cut off from your sight!' But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried out to you.
'I had said in my alarm: I am cut off from your sight' tracks MT. Jonah 2:5 ('I am driven away from your sight') echoes.
Love the LORD, all you His faithful ones! The LORD preserves those who are trustworthy and fully repays the one who acts in pride.
'Love the LORD, all you his saints' tracks MT. The 'saints' (hosioi) — the covenantally-faithful — a key LXX Psalms category, extended to the NT ekklēsia as hagioi (1 Cor 1:2, etc.).
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD.
'Be strong, and let your heart take courage' tracks MT. Deuteronomy 31:6–7 ('be strong and courageous') echoes — the military-encouragement formula applied to spiritual-perseverance. 1 Cor 16:13 ('be watchful … be strong' — andrizesthe, krataiousthe) carries the pattern into NT ethics.