1 Yahweh, I have come to you for protection;
don’t let me be disgraced.
Save me, on account of your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to listen to me;
rescue me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
save me to the mountain fortress.
3 You are my rock and my fortress.
For the honor of your name, lead me, guide me.
4 Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me,
for I find protection in you alone.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit.
Rescue me, Yahweh, faithful God.
6 I hate those who worship worthless idols.
I trust in Yahweh.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your covenant love,
for you have seen my troubles,
and you know the anguish of my soul.
8 You have not handed me over to my enemies
but have set me in a wide open place.
9 Be gracious to me, Yahweh, for I am in trouble.
Tears blur my eyes.
My body and soul are withering away.
10 My life finishes with grief;
my years in sadness.
My punishment has drained my strength;
I am wasting away from within.
11 I am scorned by all my enemies
and despised by my neighbors—
even my friends are afraid to come near me.
When they see me on the street,
they run the other way.
12 I am shunned as if I were dead,
a broken pot.
13 I hear the many rumors about me,
and I am surrounded by terror.
My enemies conspire against me,
plotting to take my life.
14 But I am trusting you, Yahweh,
saying, “You are my God!”
15 My destiny is in your hands.
Rescue me from those who persecute me.
16 Shine on your servant.
In your covenant love, rescue me.
17 Don’t let me be disgraced, Yahweh,
for I call out to you for help.
Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them lie silent in the grave.
18 Silence their lying lips—
those proud and arrogant lips that accuse the Righteous One.
19 How great is the goodness
you have stored up for those who fear you.
You lavish it on those who come to you for protection,
blessing them before the watching world.
20 You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
seclude them in your tabernacle
away from contentious conspirators.
21 Praise Yahweh,
for he has shown me his covenant love
in the city under siege.
22 In panic I cried out,
“I am cut off from all help!”
But you heard my cry for mercy
and answered my call for help.
23 Love Yahweh, all you his covenant people!
For Yahweh preserved the faithful,
but he repays the prideful with interest.
24 So be strong and he will strengthen your heart,
all you who put your hope in Yahweh.
Psalm 31 -- DKB Interplation
God our Father:
What terrors did Your Christ confront
to set his people free
from the besieged citadel
of hell masquerading as Your church.
Dying on Skull Hill that Friday
Which pain the more excruciating?
Rome's cursed crucifixion
or priestly rejection and denunciating?
Rome did not betray our Christ.
Romans did not shout "Crucify!"
Pilate offered Him release,
the Mrs. warned in sleepless dreams.
It was His friends who rejected Him,
scribes and elders on the church board,
those who felt their power threatened,
they betrayed and killed their Lord.
Religion's full of worthless idols
before whom the pious pray,
laying siege to God's elect
with rituals as strong as chains.
As though by these religious acts
we might earn some extra merit.
Christ's work is never finished (John 19:30)
according to Constantinian clerics.
None but self-righteous can devise
such tortures of the soul,
to deprive of hope and wealth,
even those who've lost their health.
What then these mumbling priests?
What good these religious yokes?
The institution's only purpose --
preserve the stories of faithful folk.
And when these tax-free shelters run
a muck of truth and lose their passions,
let them be anathema!
Pronounce Ichabod o'er their ashes.
Let me find Your holy comfort
in this sweet sustaining song,
when disgraced and when rejected,
when persecuted for no wrong.
Comfort me with strength sublime
Shelter me within your grace,
and when the siege of life is done
set me on Your wide open place.
Amen.
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