Psalm of David 31 in Russian and Church Slavonic languages

Text of Psalm 31

The deep meaning of the work written by King David is revealed to those who carefully analyze its contents using the text in Church Slavonic. In the Old Church Slavonic language, the prayers of believers reach God, as some believe, faster. On it, a song of praise is used during services in churches.

With accents in Church Slavonic

In Russian

It is not always possible for a righteous person to turn to divine powers in church, but this should not become an obstacle to communication with the Lord. You can pray to him privately. At home, Psalm 31 is read mainly in Russian, in which its interpretation becomes more understandable for a person.

Kathisma 4 Psalm 31

Psalm 31

Psalm of David. Teaching

The psalm belongs to David. Its content is a revelation of that satisfied inner state of the author, which appeared as a result of the forgiveness of his sin by the Lord. If we compare this psalm with the Lth, which sets out repentance and a prayer for forgiveness, then the real psalm should be considered written after the Lth, after receiving this forgiveness. The sin that historical books point to David and is similar to the present one - Psalm L, must be considered his sin with Uriah and Bathsheba.

Inscription in Hebrew The Bible “maskil” can be translated as “admonition, instruction”, or as in the Russian Bible - “teaching”. This inscription indicates the nature of the content of the psalm, representing the teaching of man in true conduct, which David arrived at through his personal experience and reflection. The psalm, like the sixth, is repentant.

Blessed is the man whose sins the Lord has forgiven (1-2). When I hid my sin, I experienced great torment (3-4). When I revealed it to the Lord, I felt relief and found protection in Him (5-7). The Lord is merciful to people and commands them not to resist His will and influence, as wild horses resist taming, and then the righteous before Him will rejoice, and the wicked will experience many sorrows (8-11).

1 Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered! 2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile!

1-2. "Whose iniquities are forgiven"

,
“whose sins are covered”
,
“will not impute sin”
- must be understood in the sense of complete moral cleansing of a person, and not an external legal justification, according to which a person is recognized only as not subject to punishment, but free from the moral shortcoming for which he is responsible before God.
Such complete purification is indicated by the last expression of the verse - “in whose spirit there is no guile
,” i.e., only the one who has purified his spirit, has been morally reborn, and not just outwardly justified, is blessed.

3 While I was silent, my bones became worn out through my daily groaning, 4 for day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My freshness disappeared, like in a summer drought.

3-4. "When I was silent"

- David’s repentance for his crime took place a year later, which can be seen from the comparison of chapters XI and XII.
2 Kings - “My bones are worn out because of my daily groaning
. The voice of conscience tormented David and he was daily tormented by the consciousness of the offense he had committed. These torments of conscience are considered by him as “the weight of the hand of the Lord,” the consequence of which was David’s physical exhaustion—the loss of vigor and freshness.

5 But I revealed my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my crimes to the Lord,” and You took away from me the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore every righteous person will pray to You in the time of need, and then the flood of many waters will not reach him.

5-6. Just as hard as David felt when concealing his transgression before God, it became so easy for him after repentance, since the Lord “removed from him the guilt of sin.” By the guilt of sin here we must again understand not an exemption from responsibility, not a legal justification, since David suffered punishment in the death of his son born of Bathsheba and subsequently in the rebellion of Absalom, but moral and complete cleansing from the offense. From the legal side, there was not even a crime in David’s marriage: Bathsheba’s husband was killed, she became free, and David could marry her, and if there was no corpus delicti of a legal crime, then there could be no legal justification, but there was a complete, real and moral purification. - “He’ll pray for that”

- it is better to translate - “therefore let him pray.”
Based on the torment of conscience experienced by David, he advises every “righteous person”, one on whom the voice of conscience acts, “at the right time”
, at the right time to ease the conscience, that is, at its first call, to repent before God, in order to thereby achieve both moral peace and to prevent the “pouring of many waters,” the power of disasters with which the Lord will punish him. (“Waters” - in the Bible constantly mean numerous and severe disasters, as in the flood that washed away all the wicked).

7 You are my covering: You protect me from sorrow, you surround me with the joys of deliverance. 8 “I will admonish you, I will guide you in the way you should go; I will guide you; My eye is upon you.” 9 “Do not be like a horse, like a foolish mule, whose jaws must be bridled with bridle and bit so that they will obey you.”

8-9. God appears to be speaking. The Lord always watches and provides for man, directing him to the path of truth. One of such influences of God on man is the voice of conscience, which must be obeyed, and not stubborn, like wild horses and hinnies, whose jaws must be bridled in order to make these animals suitable for serving man. Such a bridle should be considered the disasters sent by God to a person in order to admonish the latter, shorten, and curb his wild sinful inclinations. God desires and expects from man voluntary obedience to Himself, sincere repentance before Him.

10 Many are the tribulations of the wicked, but mercy surrounds him who trusts in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous; rejoice, all you who are upright in heart.

Interpretation

Psalm 31 will penetrate the heart of the righteous if he understands its meaning. It opens up to everyone who spends time carefully studying and analyzing individual verses of the song of praise. Before the first verse, as you know, there is an inscription, which experts recommend to perceive as an instruction, an attempt by the author to enlighten the reader, based on his own experience.

Verses 1 and 2: the emphasis is on cleansing, moral, spiritual justification, which are much more important than legal, legal punishments. The soul of the righteous always suffers more than his body.

Verses 3 and 4: the author describes his emotions caused by the awareness of his own sinfulness, the criminality of the committed act. His conscience made him suffer; this torment provoked physical exhaustion.

Verses 5 and 6: the king continues the theme of suffering after committing a sin, talking about the relief given by the Lord, who forgave him for what he had done. David emphasizes that any sin is punished by God.

Verse 7: The main idea is that joy and relief come through prayer.

Verses 8 and 9: narrated on behalf of the Savior, who advises the righteous not to be stubborn, like donkeys and horses, who understand only the whip. The whip is in the hands of the Lord - the disasters that he sends to those who have stumbled in order to direct them to the true path.

Verses 10 and 11: mercy from above comes to those who believe, trials and troubles and many sorrows await the ungodly.

Psalm 31

Blessed are those who have abandoned iniquity and those who have covered themselves with sin. Blessed is the man, the Lord will not impute sin to him; there is flattery in his mouth. As if I were silent, my bones swore, from calling me all day long. As Thy hand weighs upon me day and night, I return to passion when the thorn strikes me. I have known my iniquity and have not covered my sin, I have said: I will confess my iniquity to the Lord, and You have forsaken the wickedness of my heart. For this reason, every saint will pray to You at the right time: otherwise, in a flood of many waters, they will not come close to him. You are my refuge from the sorrow that besets me: my joy, deliver me from those who have bypassed me. I will admonish you and guide you on this path; if you go further, I will fix My eyes on you. Do not wake up like a horse and a mesk, which has no reason: with the bridle and bridle you will restrain their jaws that do not approach you. The sinner has many wounds, but he who trusts in the Lord will receive mercy. Rejoice in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous, and rejoice, all you who are upright in heart.

Glory:

We read the Psalter. Psalm 31

Conversation with Archpriest Alexy Ladygin about the Psalter. – With Archpriest Alexy Ladygin we continue to talk about the Psalter and analyze the 31st Psalm.
Last time we looked at a completely unusual psalm: on the one hand, it is repentant, showing the fall of man, and on the other, incredibly life-affirming. – Yes, the psalmist David gives us a glimpse of both the feeling of repentance (he shows his mistakes) and the great mercy of God. He speaks of God, showing Him as the King of kings, calling Him “Lord”, and another time he calls Him “My God, my God” - precisely in a softer and gentler form, to show that the Lord is Merciful. When he calls Him Lord, he always shows the power of God, and calling Him “My God, my God,” shows God’s mercy, and not just to all of us, but also to the Lord Himself, as if reminding us of the words that He Himself said: “I am God.” mercy" (we find these words in the Holy Scriptures). And it becomes easier for David, and the Lord does not hesitate for a long time, but comes to his aid. The psalmist calls for us to take courage and be strong in our hearts, for the Lord helps everyone who trusts in Him.

The 31st Psalm is also amazing, wonderful, like the entire Psalter of David. He writes the inscription to the psalm - of reason. Of course, if we are talking about reason, then indeed, in order to bring repentance to God, you need to have reason. Not everyone can bring worthy repentance, change, find the moment at which he can do this, this requires reason. If a person has reason, then he can bring worthy repentance. At the same time, David says that we must understand the Divine truth, accept it with our minds: we first understand it, then accept it, and then it bears worthy fruit in our lives.

“Blessed are those who have abandoned iniquity and those who have hidden behind sin.” Indeed, blessed is it that the Lord left them, that is, forgave them, iniquities and covered their sins. To some extent, it is clear that “iniquity was abandoned”: the pagans did not understand the Law, and the Lord leaves them their iniquities for the sake of their misunderstanding, since they did not have the Law, although “the pagans, not having the law,” says the Apostle Paul, “have a legal nature are creating." They did not always do the truth, but lived lawlessly. But the Lord leaves them their iniquities “and they hide behind sin.” And whose sins can be covered up? Those who had the Law. And who had the Law? The Jews, the Jews, had true worship of God, and then they needed the Lord to forgive their sins.

These are iniquities, but here are sins. This is the division David makes, understanding the severity and consequences of human sins. “Blessed are they left behind.” Whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are forgiven? And when does this happen? He calls those already living in the New Testament, Christian times, blessed, when sins are forgiven from the font of baptism: not only the sins that a person has committed, but also original sin is abolished. Here David prophesies that a time will soon come when people, by the water and the Spirit, will have the opportunity to have their sins forgiven.

“Blessed is the man; the Lord will not impute sin to him; there is flattery in his mouth.” Here, too, David says very well that the Lord does not impute sin to people, but warns: “there is flattery in his mouth.” That is, you gave, man, a promise defined in the sacrament of Baptism, you told God that you would strive to change, to be transformed. And you must definitely keep the vows made in baptism, and not deceive the Lord in your life.

“As if I were silent, my bones swore, from calling me all day long.” Speaking about bones, David speaks of internal spiritual and physical forces, which a person is deprived of due to sin and therefore is in such a relaxed state.

“As Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night: let us return to passion when the thorn strikes us.” Day and night exhaust me. A thorn is a sin that enters a person’s heart, prevents him from living and brings him a lot of defeats. And David says that it would be good to arm yourself against sinful passion. With what? Prayers, tears, feat. And when a person performs prayer, fasting and kneeling, he becomes exhausted in his physical strength. He needs this, because sin has entered his heart; just as thorns enter field crops, preventing them from developing, so sin prevents the development of human virtue.

“I have known my iniquity, and have not covered up my sin; I have said: let me confess my iniquity to the Lord: and thou hast forsaken the wickedness of my heart.” David speaks about the state of the human heart: “And You have forsaken the wickedness of my heart.” When the Lord saw human sin “and did not cover my sin, He said: Let us confess my iniquity to the Lord.” That is, the Lord, on the one hand, forgives sin (which is what David is talking about here), but at the same time, “let us confess my iniquity to the Lord”: a person must suffer for his sin. David endured trials, but he still repented of his sins before the prophet Nathan, and Nathan from the Lord forgives him for his sin, seeing his repentance, but warns that he will suffer some punishment for his sin.

And then the punishment happened. After all, David lived as if under the protection of God, without experiencing difficulties, and victory was always in his hands, and after that very strong trials began. The most difficult test is the rebellion of Absalom's son. David had to hide and hide, remaining barely alive, and then by a miracle of God, the mercy of God and the prayer that he offered to God, he managed to rise. Therefore, this psalm points to the circumstances that await us if we become close to our sin.

“For this reason, every saint will pray to You at the right time: otherwise, in a flood of many waters, they will not come close to him.” Here we hear that a reverend, righteous person will always pray before God and his prayer will be heard. “Even in a flood of waters many waters will not come near him” what? Of course it's a sin. Here we are talking about the sacrament of Baptism, in which sin is drowned and does not approach a baptized, righteous person if he does not commit some untruth, but fulfills the vows of Holy Baptism.

– Is only original sin washed away or all sins?

– Only the first-born, if a baby is baptized, and when a person is baptized as an adult, then all his sins that were before receiving Holy Baptism are forgiven - a person always emerges from the font clean, bright, like a baby.

– Is that why some grandmothers like to be baptized several times? Unfortunately, there were such cases.

- It is a sin. “I confess one baptism...” Maybe this is the ignorance that the Soviet era gave us. “When a man loses faith,” said Chesterton, “he becomes superstitious.”

– You spoke about this recently in your program on the Soyuz TV channel: it is very important in many of your actions, especially related to the Church, to ask for the advice of a priest, and not to go at random...

- Certainly.

“You are my refuge from the sorrow that besets me: O my joy, deliver me from those who have bypassed me.” David points out that the Lord is a refuge from sorrow, the Lord shows mercy and joy. As it is well said: “My joy, deliver me from those who have bypassed me.” Through these words, David gives the Lord repentance for his past life and says: “I am not looking for anyone in my life, Lord, I do not bow my head to anyone, I always trust in You and seek help in You. You are my joy, only You show me help, You only show me consolation, You only protect me and deliver me from all my enemies.” These very beautiful phrases of David give us great strength in faith. If a person believes in the Lord, if he trusts in Him, then this trust will never be put to shame; The Lord will always be with man.

“I will admonish you and guide you on this path, even if you go the wrong way: I will fix My eyes on you.” Here, as it were, the Lord turns to David and tells him these very deep words. We must understand that if the Lord enlightened and instructed a person and he corrected himself, then he became acceptable to the face of God. “I will fix My eyes on you” (or “I will turn My eyes away from you”)? Here the Lord says: “I instructed you, enlightened you, and if you understood Me and repented, then My eyes will again be directed to you.” What does it mean “the Lord directed His eyes upon us”? This means that we walk before God: when the Lord looks at us, no enemy can approach us, because He looks not just at us, but to see, perhaps, some enemy who can cause us harm, what - our difficulty in life or the abyss into which we can fall. Looks to hold us back or protect us from someone.

It is very important. The eyes of the Lord are with us, like the eyes of a mother protecting her child, because she will never allow the child to get into trouble, or someone to attack him, or for him to fall from the carousel, from the swing: parents always look after their children, and if they don’t look, then the child gets into all sorts of trouble. And here it is important that the Lord says: “My eyes are with you.” And with David directly. This means that he again found mercy from the Lord Himself. Again, we must always remember: if the Lord turns his face away from us, it means that we are unpleasant to the face of God, committing sins, unworthy acts, not fulfilling His commandments.

– Many elders say that it is not the Lord who turns away from us, but rather we from Him. What is right?

– The psalmist David says differently. We, of course, turn away from God through our actions and leave Him, and the Lord no longer looks at us, and when we repent, we return to God. To bring repentance to God, you need to understand this, like the prodigal son. This is figurative language. If the elders say that it is we who turn away from God, here they mean more that we ourselves “leave” God with our actions, turn our backs to Him and no longer see the face of God, we have turned away - a reversal has occurred. “Debauchery” is a reversal: he turned around and went away from God in the other direction. Of course, we have turned away from the face of God.

“And David asks that even in this state the Lord will look at him.”

- Here it is no longer David, but the Lord who answers him: “I will fix My eyes on you,” that is, “I will return and look at you.”

“Do not wake up like a horse and a horse that has no understanding; with bridles and bridles you will restrain their jaws that do not come near you.” An amazing comparison: don’t be as frantic as a horse and a mesk. Mesk is a mule. The interpreter says very well that the mule (mules) are not a creation of God, they appeared due to crossing.

- Due to human actions.

- Yes. Usually animals are always shown as doing good, the personification of good, and if we want to personify some kind of evil, then this is a human act. Just like an orange is a creation of God, a lemon is a creation of God, and if you cross them, you get a grapefruit - this is already a human creation, you eat and wince, as they say. Here the donkey (or mule) is shown as some kind of evil. What does it mean to “bind their jaws with bridles and bridles that do not come near you”? Indeed, such people need to be controlled. The horse is controlled by the bridle, and man, on the one hand, is controlled by the great mercy of God, and on the other hand, the Lord admonishes him and directs him to fulfill His commandments.

“Many are the wounds of the sinner; but he who trusts in the Lord will receive mercy.” A sinful person may not experience joy on this earth, but constant difficulties and sorrows. He who trusts in the Lord, of course, will be under the protection of the Lord Himself, and, as the holy fathers say, he will be preserved everywhere by the grace of God. And we see this often, and David experienced it himself, why he puts emphasis on these moments: he does not want others to fall into the same networks that he fell into during his life. And his feeling of repentance is probably an example of prayer and repentance of every person who experiences difficulties in his life.

How can we get rid of all this? After all, sin can be voluntary or involuntary, there are human weaknesses that cannot be immediately overcome. But if you have fallen into such troubles and temptations, then just as David brought repentance through the prophet Nathan, so you can, especially in our time, bring worthy repentance in the temple of God, turning to God, and through a priest, through the sacrament of Repentance, bring some kind of contrition about your sins. Then peace will return to man and the grace of God will accompany him.

And if a person continues in his stubbornness, he will experience very great difficulties, which is what David says: “Many are the wounds of the sinner.” Sometimes in life we ​​have no understanding of what is happening to us, why we experience such difficulties. It would seem that we are not hungry, not cold, but we begin to think how unfortunate we are. Why? We have apartments that are heated, have cold and hot water; go to every house - there is something to eat, no one goes hungry. But at the same time we do not have inner peace.

We live in sins and remain in sin and do not repent. Only when a person repents does he immediately find inner peace and tranquility for his soul. “And you will find rest for your souls.” This is when we find peace for our souls: when we either flee from sin or bring worthy repentance to God and in our lives we trust only in His mercy.

“Rejoice in the Lord, and rejoice in the righteous, and rejoice, all you who are upright in heart.” David says it very well here: “rejoice in the Lord.” Those who live in righteousness on earth strive fully to fulfill the commandments of God. Who can boast in the Lord, rejoice, glorify God? Of course, only those who live with God live a virtuous life. And the Lord preserves these virtues, confirms them, and through them strengthens the righteous person. “Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice in the righteous, and rejoice, all who are upright in heart”: not only rejoice in the Lord, but also rejoice throughout your entire life. Cheerfulness is also inner peace, it is also joy. As David said well today about the Lord: “My joy.” That is, God truly is the joy and fullness of life for every person.

– Thank you heartily, Father Alexy, for a very informative conversation.

Presenter Lyubov Akelina

Recorded by Nina Kirsanova

LiveInternetLiveInternet

1. Psalm of David. Teaching. Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered!

2. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile!

1-2. The person whom the Lord forgives and does not impute sin to him is very happy; this is the highest happiness for a person.

3. When I was silent, my bones grew old because of my daily groaning,

4. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My freshness disappeared, like in a summer drought.

3-4. If a person harbors sins, then he suffers, because the hand of the Lord weighs heavily on him. The Gospel according to John says that the one who does not accept Jesus Christ bears the wrath of God.

In these first four verses there is a contrast between saved and unsaved people: some are extremely happy that they are saved, while others are tormented in their souls because of the wrath of God.

5. But I revealed my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my crimes to the Lord,” and You took away from me the guilt of my sin.

5. Here is the answer to what a person needs to do in order to move into the first group of people: reveal his sin to the Lord and confess to Him. Then the Lord will forgive completely.

6. Therefore, every righteous person will pray to You at the time of need, and then the flood of many waters will not reach him.

6. Now, having already been saved, a person must pray to the Lord. Firstly, give thanks for salvation, and secondly, pray for the salvation of others. Here the promise is given that such a person will not be reached by the flood of many waters. Most likely, we are talking about various false teachings, since in the Bible it is often the waters that symbolize teachings. Although we can also talk about disasters. Verses 7 and 8 talk about protection from these two waters. In any case, God will protect his man. The man must be saved and pray to God.

7. You are my cover: You protect me from sorrow, surround me with the joys of deliverance.

7. God protects a person from physical problems. These are also many waters. People in the world experience a lot of sorrows: in the family, on the street and everywhere, but God protects his people.

8. “I will admonish you, I will guide you on the path you should follow; I will guide you; My eye is upon you.”

8. God protects a person from spiritual problems. That is, he admonishes, instructs on the path, guides, and looks after him. It turns out that God does everything so that a person lives correctly, according to His Word. And a person is protected from all false teachings.

9. “Do not be like a horse, like a foolish mule, whose jaws must be bridled with a bridle and bit so that they obey you.”

9. But there are also conditions: submit to God, do not resist Him. Otherwise, God will punish.

10. Many are the tribulations of the wicked, but mercy surrounds him who trusts in the Lord.

11.Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous; rejoice, all you who are upright in heart.

Verses 10 and 11 summarize everything that has been said above: the wicked have many sorrows, since they do not have the same protection from God as believers; but those who trust in God are surrounded by His mercy. And such people rejoice and should rejoice. Amen.