﻿Psalm.
Chapter 31.
In you, LORD, I take refuge; never let me be put to shame. Deliver me in your righteousness. 
Incline your ear to me; rescue me quickly. Be my rock of refuge, a fortress to save me. 
For you are my crag and my fortress; for your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. 
Draw me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my stronghold. 
Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, LORD, faithful God. 
I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD. 
I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, for you have seen my affliction and known the troubles of my soul. 
You have not handed me over to the enemy; you have set my feet in a spacious place. 
Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away with grief, my soul and my body too. 
For my life is spent in sorrow and my years in sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. 
Because of all my foes I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and a terror to those who know me; those who see me in the street flee from me. 
I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead; I have become like a ruined vessel. 
For I hear the slander of many—terror on every side! They conspire together against me, plotting to take my life. 
But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.” 
My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and those who pursue me. 
Make your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love. 
LORD, do not let me be put to shame, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in Sheol. 
Let lying lips be silenced, lips that speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt. 
How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and shown to those who take refuge in you, in the sight of humankind! 
You hide them in the shelter of your presence from human plots; you conceal them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. 
Blessed be the LORD, for he has shown me the wonders of his steadfast love in a besieged city! 
In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Yet you heard my pleading when I cried to you for help. 
Love the LORD, all you his faithful ones! The LORD guards the loyal, but repays the proud in full measure. 
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD. 
