You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance.
Parallel Translations
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You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance.
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Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
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Thou art my hiding-place; Thou wilt preserve me from the adversary; with songs of deliverance Thou wilt compass me about. Selah
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Psalms 32:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Psalms 119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield. I hope in your word.
- Psalms 27:5 For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.
- Psalms 9:9 Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.
- Psalms 31:20 In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.
- Psalms 143:9 Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.
- 2 Samuel 22:1 David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul,
- Psalms 98:1 Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
- Revelation 7:10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
- Psalms 32:10 Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
- Psalms 40:3 He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh.
- Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- Psalms 5:12 For you will bless the righteous. Yahweh, you will surround him with favor as with a shield.
- Exodus 15:1-3 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea. Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.
- Psalms 18:5 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
- Jeremiah 36:26 The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.
- Revelation 15:2-3 I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
- Judges 5:1 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain At last the Psalmist gives himself to thanksgiving, and…
At last the Psalmist gives himself to thanksgiving, and although he uses but few words to celebrate the divine favor, there is, notwithstanding, much force in his brevity. In the first place, he denies that there is any other haven of safety but in God himself. Secondly, he assures himself that God will be his faithful keeper hereafter; for I willingly retain the future tense of the verb, though some, without any reason, translate it into the past. He is not, however, to be understood as meaning that he conceived himself safe from future tribulations, but he sets God’s guardianship over against them. Lastly, whatever adversity may befall him, he is persuaded that God will be his deliverer. By the word compass, he means manifold and various kinds of deliverance; as if he had said, that he should be under obligation to God in innumerable ways, and that he should, on every side, have most abundant matter for praising him. We may observe in the meantime, how he offers his service of gratitude to God, according to his usual method, putting songs of deliverance instead of help.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 32:7 Thou [art] my hiding place; thou shalt…
Psa 32:7 Thou [art] my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding place, &c.] And therefore I, being a pardoned person, shall be in safety under thy wings, Psa 91:4, per totum.
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Thou shalt preserve me from trouble] Either from it or in it; that I be not hurt by it. The godly, after one trouble, must prepare for another; after one deliverance, expect another. A company cometh, as she said.
Thou shalt compass me about with songs] i.e. Plentifully furnish me with matter of praise, ita ut laetus Paeana canam. And like as in a lottery, at every prize the trumpet soundeth; so at every deliverance I will sing aloud to thy glory. All my springs shall be in thee.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. With such great deliverances on all sides, as…
i.e. With such great deliverances on all sides, as will give just occasion to sing forth thy praises.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain David is here improving the experience he had had…
David is here improving the experience he had had of the comfort of pardoning mercy.
I. He speaks to God, and professes his confidence in him and expectation from him, Psa 32:7. Having tasted the sweetness of divine grace to a penitent sinner, he cannot doubt of the continuance of that grace to a praying saint, and that in that grace he should find both safety and joy. 1. Safety: "Thou art my hiding-place; when by faith I have recourse to thee I see all the reason in the world to be easy, and to think myself out of the reach of any real evil. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble, from the sting of it, and from the strokes of it as far as is good for me. Thou shalt preserve me from such trouble as I was in while I kept silence," Psa 32:3. When God has pardoned our sins, if he leaves us to ourselves, we shall soon run as far in debt again as ever and plunge ourselves again into the same gulf; and therefore, when we have received the comfort of our remission, we must fly to the grace of God to be preserved from returning to folly again, and having our hearts again hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. God keeps his people from trouble by keeping them from sin. 2. Joy: "Thou shalt not only deliver me, but compass me about with songs of deliverance; which way soever I look I shall see occasion to rejoice and to praise God; and my friends also shall compass me about in the great congregation, to join with me in songs of praise: they shall join their songs of deliverance with mine. As every one that is godly shall pray with me, so they shall give thanks with me."
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II. He turns his speech to the children of men. Being himself converted, he does what he can to strengthen his brethren (Luk 22:32): I will instruct thee, whoever thou art that desirest instruction, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go, Psa 32:8. This, in another of his penitential psalms, he resolves that when God should have restored to him the joy of his salvation he would teach transgressors his ways, and do what he could to convert sinners to God, as well as to comfort those that were converted, Psa 51:12, Psa 51:13. When Solomon became a penitent he immediately became a preacher, Ecc 1:1. Those are best able to teach others the grace of God who have themselves had the experience of it: and those who are themselves taught of God ought to tell others what he has done for their souls (Psa 66:16) and so teach them. I will guide thee with my eye. Some apply this to God's conduct and direction. He teaches us by his word and guides us with his eye, by the secret intimations of his will in the hints and turns of Providence, which he enables his people to understand and take direction from, as a master makes a servant know his mind by a wink of his eye. When Christ turned and looked upon Peter he guided him with his eye. But it is rather to be taken as David's promise to those who sat under his instruction, his own children and family especially: "I will counsel thee; my eye shall be upon thee" (so the margin reads it); "I will give thee the best counsel I can and then observe whether thou takest it or no." Those that are taught in the word should be under the constant inspection of those that teach them; spiritual guides must be overseers. In this application of the foregoing doctrine concerning the blessedness of those whose sins are pardoned we have a word to sinners and a word to saints; and this is rightly dividing the word of truth and giving to each their portion.
1. Here is a word of caution to sinners, and a good reason is given for it. (1.) The caution is, not to be unruly and ungovernable: Be you not as the horse and the mule, which have no understanding, Psa 32:9. When the psalmist would reproach himself for the sins he repented of he compared himself to a beast before God (so foolish have I been and ignorant, Psa 73:22) and therefore warns others not to be so. It is our honour and happiness that we have understanding, that we are capable of being governed by reason and of reasoning with ourselves. Let us therefore use the faculties we have, and act rationally. The horse and mule must be managed with bit and bridle, lest they come near us, to do us a mischief, or (as some read it) that they may come near to us, to do us service, that they may obey us, Jam 3:3. Let us not be like them; let us not be hurried by appetite and passion, at any time, to go contrary to the dictate of right reason and to our true interest. If sinners would be governed and determined by these, they would soon become saints and would not go a step further in their sinful courses; where there is renewing grace there is no need of the bit and bridle of restraining grace. (2.) The reason for this caution is because the way of sin which we would persuade you to forsake will certainly end in sorrow (Psa 32:10): Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, which will not only spoil their vain and carnal mirth, and put an end to it, but will make them pay dearly for it. Sin will have sorrow, if not repented of, everlasting sorrow. It was part of the sentence, I will greatly multiply thy sorrows. "Be wise for yourselves therefore, and turn from your wickedness, that you may prevent those sorrows, those many sorrows."
2. Here is a word of comfort to saints, and a good reason is given for that too. (1.) They are assured that if they will but trust in the Lord, and keep closely to him, mercy shall compass them about on every side (Psa 32:10), so that they shall not depart from God, for that mercy shall keep them in, nor shall any real evil break in upon them, for that mercy shall keep it out. (2.) They are therefore commanded to be glad in the Lord, and to rejoice in him, to such a degree as even to shout for joy, Psa 32:11. Let them be so transported with this holy joy as not to be able to contain themselves; and let them affect others with it, that they also may see that a life of communion with God is the most pleasant and comfortable life we can live in this world. This is that present bliss which the upright in heart, and they are only, are entitled to and qualified for.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thou art my hiding place,.... In time of trouble;…
Thou art my hiding place,.... In time of trouble; see Psa 27:5; so Christ is said to be, Isa 32:2. "Thou shall preserve me from trouble"; not from having it; for in this world the saints must have tribulation, and through it enter the kingdom, but from being swallowed up with it; the Lord will bring them safe out of it, and of them it shall be said, "these are they that came out of great tribulation", Rev 7:14;
thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance; or gird with gladness, as in Psa 30:11; the meaning is, that God would give him abundant reason for praise and thankfulness; and an opportunity of attending him with songs of praise for deliverance out of the hands of his enemies, and from trouble; and that both in his house below, where the saints, his loving people and faithful subjects, would join with him, in the midst of whom he should stand encompassed with their songs of praise; or in heaven above, where he should sing the song of Moses, and of the Lamb, and be surrounded with the hallelujahs of angels and glorified saints; Aben Ebra interprets these songs of the voices of angels.
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Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Thou art my hiding place] An allusion,…
Verse 7. Thou art my hiding place] An allusion, probably, to the city of refuge: "Thou shalt preserve me from trouble." The avenger of blood shall not be able to overtake me. And being encompassed with an impregnable wall, I shall feel myself encompassed with songs of deliverance - I shall know that I am safe.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 32:7. Thou art my hiding-place — When by…
Psa 32:7. Thou art my hiding-place — When by faith I have recourse to thee, I see all the reason in the world to be easy, and to think myself out of the reach of any real evil. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble — From the sting of it, and from the strokes of it, as far as is good for me. Thou shalt preserve me from such trouble as I was in while I kept silence, and did not confess my sins, and pray for forgiveness, Psa 32:3. If, when God has pardoned our sins. he were to leave us to ourselves, we should soon relapse into sin, and contract fresh guilt, and thereby plunge ourselves again into the same gulf of distress and misery; therefore, when we have received the comfort of our remission, we must have recourse to the grace of God to be preserved from returning to folly again, and having our hearts again hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. God keeps his people from trouble, by keeping them from sin. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance — With such great deliverances on all sides as will give just occasion to sing thy praise. And my friends, also, shall compass me about in the great congregation, to join with me in songs of praise: they shall join their songs of deliverance with mine.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thou art my hiding-place - See Psa 9:9, note;…
Thou art my hiding-place - See Psa 9:9, note; Psa 27:5, note. The idea is that he would be safe under the protection of God. The general allusion is to concealment from an enemy, but the immediate reference is to sin, and the consequences of sin. By fleeing to God he would be secure against all the evils which sin brings upon human beings.
Thou shalt preserve me from trouble - Particularly the trouble which comes from guilt; sadness and sorrow in the remembrance of sin; apprehension of the wrath of God in the world to come; the consequences of guilt in that unseen and eternal world.
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Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance - With songs expressive of deliverance or salvation. It is not merely one song or a single expression of gratitude; in his pathway to another world he will be attended with songs and rejoicings; he will seem to be surrounded with songs He himself will sing. Others, redeemed like him, will sing, and will seem to chant praises because He is redeemed and forgiven. All nature will seem to rejoice over his redemption. Nature is full of songs. The birds of the air; the wind; the running stream; the ocean; the seasons - spring, summer, autumn, winter; hills, valleys, groves - all, to one redeemed, seem to be full of songs. The feeling that we are pardoned fills the universe with melody, and makes the heaven and the earth seem to us to be glad. The Christian is a happy man; and he himself being happy, all around him sympathizes with him in his joy.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain His experience illustrates the statement of Psa 32:6.
His experience illustrates the statement of Psa 32:6.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. My hiding place—My place of safety. In the…
7. My hiding place—My place of safety. In the previous verse the psalmist mentions the general effect of his great restoration; here he speaks of the enlargement of his personal faith and joy.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. The Psalmist addresses Jehovah, appropriating to himself the…
7. The Psalmist addresses Jehovah, appropriating to himself the promise of the preceding verse.
my hiding place] The same word as in Psa_27:5; Psa_31:20; Psa_91:1.
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thou shalt preserve me &c.] Thou wilt guard me (Psa_12:7; Psa_25:21; Psa_31:23) from distress (Psa_31:9); thou wilt compass me about with shouts (Psa_32:11) of deliverance. Occasions for rejoicing arise wherever he turns: or possibly the glad shouts of the godly rejoicing at his deliverance are meant.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thou art my hiding-place; (comp. Psa_17:8 Psa_27:5 Psa_31:20 Psa_143:9)…
Thou art my hiding-place; (comp. Psa_17:8 Psa_27:5 Psa_31:20 Psa_143:9) thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Hidden in God, there can no harm happen to him. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. "Songs of deliver-ante" are such songs as men sing when they have been delivered from peril. God will make such songs to sound in the psalmist"s ears or in his heart.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding place. Terse, short…
Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding place. Terse, short sentences make up this verse, but they contain a world of meaning. Personal claims upon our God are the joy of spiritual life. To lay our hand upon the Lord with the clasp of a personal "my" is delight at its full. Observe that the same man who in the fourth verse was oppressed by the presence of God, here finds a shelter in him. See what honest confession and full forgiveness will do! The gospel of substitution makes him to be our refuge who otherwise would have been our judge. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Trouble shall do me no real harm when the Lord is with me, rather it shall bring me much benefit, like the file which clears away the rust, but does not destroy the metal. Observe the three tenses, we have noticed the sorrowful past, the last sentence was a joyful present, this is a cheerful future. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. What a golden sentence! The man is encircled in song, surrounded by dancing mercies, all of them proclaiming the triumphs of grace. There is no breach in the circle, it completely rings him round; on all sides he hears music. Before him hope sounds the cymbals, and behind him gratitude beats the timbrel. Right and left, above and beneath, the air resounds with joy, and all this for the very man who, a few weeks ago, was roaring all the day long. How great a change! What wonders grace has done and still can do! Selah. There was a need of a pause, for love so amazing needs to be pondered, and joy so great demands quiet contemplation, since language fails to express it.
Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding place. David does not say, "Thou art a hiding place" merely, as one among many; or the "hiding place, "as the only one; but, "Thou art my hiding place." There lies all the excellency of the text. "He is mine; I have embraced the offer of his salvation, "says David; "I have applied to him in my own person: I have, as a sinner, taken shelter in his love and compassion; I have placed myself under his wings; I have covered myself with the robe of his righteousness; and now, therefore, I am safe." "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." This is having a part and a lot in the matter, having the personal and individual benefit of the Saviour's work of atonement. How different is an appropriating from a speculative faith! Men tell us that they believe the doctrine, that they acknowledge the truth, that they assent to our creed; and they say, that to declare to them the character of Christ as the sinner's only help and safety, is merely putting before them what they already know. Now, follow up the idea suggested by the figure in our text, and see the folly and danger of acting thus. Suppose a traveller upon a bleak and exposed heath to be alarmed by the approach of a storm. He looks out for shelter. But if his eye discern a place to hide him from the storm, does he stand still and say, "I see there is a shelter, and therefore I may remain where I am"? Does he not betake himself to it? Does he not run, in order to escape the stormy wind and tempest? It was a "hiding place" before; but it was his hiding place only when he ran into it, and was safe. Had he not gone into it, though it might have been a protection to a thousand other travellers who resorted there, to him it would have been as if no such place existed. Who does not see at once, from this simple illustration, that the blessings of the gospel are such only in their being appropriated to the soul? The physician can cure only by being applied to; the medicine can heal only by being taken; money can enrich only by being possessed; and the merchantman in the parable would have been none the wealthier for discovering that there was a "pearl of great price, "had he not made it his. So with the salvation of the gospel: if Christ is the "Balm in Gilead, "apply the remedy; if he is the "physician there, "go to him; if he is the "pearl of great price, "sell all that you have and buy it; and if he is the "hiding place, "run into it and be safe; there will be no solid joy and peace in the mind until he is your "hiding place." Fountain Elwin, 1842.
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Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding place. An allusion, probably, to the city of refuge. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 7. Hiding place. Kirke White has a beautiful hymn upon this word, beginning, "Awake, sweet harp of Judah, wake." We have no room to quote it, but it will be found in "Our Own Hymn Book, "No. 381.
Ver. 7. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. If we content ourselves with that word which our translators have chosen here, trouble, we must rest in one of these two senses; either that God shall arm, and indue those that are his with such a constancy, as those things that trouble others shall not trouble them; but, "As the sufferings of Christ abound in them, so their consolation also aboundeth by Christ:" "As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" 2Co 1:5 6:9; for God uses both these ways in the behalf of his servantssometimes to suspend the working of that that should work their torment, as he suspended the rage of the lions for Daniel, and the heat of the fire in the furnace for the others; sometimes by imprinting a holy stupefaction and insensibleness in the person that suffers; so St. Lawrence was not only patient, but merry and facetious when he lay broiling upon the fire, and so we read of many other martyrs that have been less moved, less affected with their torments than their executioners or their persecutors have been. That which troubled others never troubled them; or else the phrase must have this sense, that though they be troubled with their troubles, though God submit them so far to the common condition of men, that they be sensible of them, yet he shall preserve them from that trouble so as that it shall never overthrow them, never sink them into a dejection of spirit, or diffidence in his mercy! they shall find storms, but a stout and strong ship under foot; they shall feel thunder and lightning, but garlands of triumphant bays shall preserve them; they shall be trodden into earth with scorns and contempt, but yet as seed is buried, to multiply to more. So far this word of our translators assists our devotion, Thou shalt preserve me from trouble, thou shalt make me insensible of it, or thou shalt make me victorious in it. John Donne.
Ver. 7. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. In these words the prophet David riseth up by a gradation, and goeth beyond that which he had formerly said concerning his confidence in God. First, he had said that God was his hiding place; secondly, that he would preserve him in trouble; and now, thirdly, that the Lord would make him joyful, and to triumph over his troubles and enemies, by compassing him, instead of troubles, with mercies... Learn to acknowledge God's goodness to thyself with particular application, as David saith here, "Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." Not only confess his goodness to others, as to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; nor only his deliverance of Noah, Daniel, Lot; but also his mercies to and deliverance of thyself, as Paul did: "Christ gave himself for me, and died for me." Ga 2:20. This will exceedingly whet up thankfulness; whereas only to acknowledge God good in himself, or to others, and not to thyself, will make thee murmur and repine. Thomas Taylor.
Ver. 7. Thou shalt compass me about. This word imports, that as we are besieged on every side with troubles, so we are compassed with as many comforts and deliverances; as our crosses grow daily, so our consolations are augmented day by day. We are on every side offended and on every side defended; therefore we ought on every side to sound God's praise, as David saith, "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me." Ps 103:1. Archibald Symson.
Ver. 7. Songs of deliverance. In that he will not be content only with thanks, but also will have them conjoined with songs, he letteth us see how high all the strings of his heart are bent that he cannot contain himself for the mercies of God to his church, and for his manifold deliverances for the same. Many sing praises to God with an half open mouth; and, albeit, they can sing aloud any filthy ballad in their house, they make the mean, I warrant you, in the church, that scarce can they hear the sound of their own voice. I think they be ashamed to proclaim and show forth God's praises, or they fear to deafen God by their loud singing; but David bent all his forces within and without to praise his God. Archibald Symson.
Ver. 7. Danger felt, refuge known, possession claimed, joy experienced.
Ver. 7. (first sentence). Christ, a hiding place from sin, Satan, and sorrow, in death and at judgment.
Ver. 7. (second sentence). Troubles from which saints shall be preserved.
Ver. 7. (last sentence). The circle of songwho draws the circle, what is the circumference, who is in the centre.
Ver. 7. Songs of deliverance. From guilt, hell, death, enemies, doubts, temptations, accidents, plots, etc.
The divine schoolmaster, his pupils, their lessons, their chastisements and their rewards.
Psalms 32:8*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Thou art my hiding place.
Psa_32:7
Thou art my hiding place.
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Our hiding place
A man who is pursued as if he were a wild beast can appreciate the value of a safe hiding place.
I. we need a hiding place for the soul.
1. For there is an enemy to our souls ever seeking their destruction. Is it true that there is a wicked devil? Some think not, but Jesus tells us that there is. He tells us also that there is a hiding place from Satans power, and it is the Lord Himself.
2. From our own inclinations. Some years ago I was walking with one of my children over a canal on a very narrow bridge. The child was frightened, and begged me to hold her tight, as she felt as if something were pulling her down into the canal. And so, like that child, we all of us have an inclination to fall from purity, and we shall fall unless the Lord hold us fast. And He will, if we ask Him. He will no more let you fall into sin, if you call on Him with all your heart, than I would have let that child fall into the canal. Though we have an inclination to sin, there is at all times a hiding place in which our souls may shelter until the danger be past.
II. there are special times when we need a hiding place.
1. One of those times is, when the fear of death comes upon us. Who can help us when we die?
2. Allow me to say a word about the hiding place we need when the sorrows of poverty afflict us. Ah, dont you think that such people need a hiding place? How blessed is the Gospel to them! They suffer, but they know, they feel, that our Heavenly Father cares for them. (W. Birch.)
The believers refuge
I. the refuge which he needs. Refer to David in the stronghold; man-slayer in city of refuge; Noah in the ark. The sinner needs a refuge under the guilt of sin, under the demands of the law, under the dangers of life.
II. the confidence he indulges. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble--not that actual exemption from trial is promised, but so preserved as that we shall not sink under it. The argument is that past deliverances are a ground of future hope. If He delivered me as a rebellious sinner, shall He not deliver me as a praying believer? It rests on the promise and faithfulness of God--For the mountains shall depart, etc. The Christian, after one trial, should prepare for another. It is supported by the experience of the Church.
III. the joy he anticipates. Songs of deliverance. (Study.)
God our hiding place
There is no statement more true, and no truth more important, than that maxim of Martin Luther--Nolo Deum absolutum. Who, indeed, can meet an absolute God? God absolute is a consuming fire. His holiness is irreconcilably hostile to sin; His justice sternly demands the sinners punishment; and His truth obliges Him to execute the penalty of His violated law. In an absolute God there is no hope for a sinful creature. But now, through the incarnate Word, my atoning Sacrifice and interceding High-Priest, the devouring Fire becomes my protection, the almighty Adversary assumes the character of a friend, and with full assurance of faith I take up the song of the royal saint--Thou art my hiding place, thou wilt preserve me from trouble; thou wilt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Concerning the ungodly it is said--The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. But their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. I have seen the name of Benvenuto Cellini scratched with a nail upon the rugged stone wall of his cell in the Castello Sant Angelo; and have handled the sad mementos of Torquato Tasso in the convent of Sant Onofrio--his last refuge, the gate by which he entered paradise--midway between his cradle at Sorrento and his dungeon at Ferrara. But my sacred asylum can show many a worthier record and many a holier relic, for it has been the dwelling-place of the saints in all generations. Here Paul and Silas sang their midnight hymn, and the heroic exile of Patmos heard the chanting of immortal tongues. Here Ignatius challenged the lions with his Gloria in Exeelsis, and brave old Sanctus as long as he had power to speak confessed--I am a Christian. And cheering it is to know that these, and such as these--a fire-crowned host of priests and kings--have been here before me. The cities of refuge were six, and were so distributed that one of them was always within half-a-days flight of the man-slayer: and the gates were ever open to admit him. And yet, from one cause or another, he might not reach it. But our defence is ever accessible. Nay, I carry my refuge constantly with me: and not as the Arab carries his tent, or the soldier his shield, or the turtle its shell; for Christ is not only immanent in His word and movements, but dwells--a living Spirit--in every living heart. And the provision is as vast as human want and as various as human woe. And there is perfect safety there. The psalmist is certain of it. Thou wilt preserve me from trouble. Not, indeed, from earthly ills--the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to; but with Thee always present I can endure these. But from sin, the source of all trouble, and itself the only real trouble, I know Thy grace is sufficient to save me. My faith, like the eagles wings, bears me above the hurtling thunder into the eternal sunshine. Like the skylark, I sing as I soar, and pour music out of the cloud. Like the nightingale, I lift a cheerful lay in the twilight, and charm the night with melodies of love and hope. Thus will the Lord, my hiding place, compass me about with songs of deliverance. (J. Cross, D. D.)
God a hiding place
Adam hid from God; David hides in God.
1. From the penalties of a broken law.
2. From the enmity of man.
3. From the trials and sorrows of life.
4. From the fear of death. (C. D. Bell, D. D.)
Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.--
Saints preserved from trouble
If we content ourselves with that word which our translators have chosen here, trouble, we must rest in one of these two senses; either that God shall arm, and endue those that are His, with such a constancy, as those things that trouble others, shall not trouble them, but, As the sufferings of Christ abound in them, so their consolation also aboundeth by Christ, as unknown, and yet well known, as dying, and behold we live, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things; for God uses both these ways in the behalf of His servants; sometimes to suspend the working of that that should work their torment, as He suspended the rage of the lions for Daniel, and the heat of the fire in the furnace for the others; sometimes by imprinting a holy stupefaction, and insensibleness in the person that suffers, so St. Laurence was not only patient, but merry and facetious when he lay broiling upon the fire; and so we read of many other martyrs, that they have been less moved, less affected with their torments, than their executioners or their persecutors have been. That which troubled others never troubled them; or else the phrase must have this sense, that though they be troubled with their troubles, though God submit them so far, to the common condition of men, that they be sensible of them, yet He shall preserve them from that trouble so as that it shall never overthrow them, never sink them into a dejection of spirit, or diffidence in His mercy. They shall find storms, but a stout and strong ship under foot. They shall feel thunder and lightning, but garlands of triumphant bays shall preserve them. They shall be trodden into the earth with scorns and contempts, but yet as seed is buried, to multiply to more. Thou shalt make me insensible of it, or Thou shalt make me victorious in it. (J. Donne, D. D.)
Preserved in Christ Jesus
There used to be an old battered safe standing in the Broadway, New York, on which was the notice, It stood the test; the contents were all saved. It had been in one of the hottest fires New York ever saw, but the old safe had carried its treasures safely through it all. No life so safe as that which is guided and controlled by Christ. (J. Ellis.)
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Songs of deliverance
Song is the natural language of the feelings. The heart in song seeks relief, as the swollen lake flows over in rills that make music as they flow. Songs of deliverance, therefore, are above all others songs of joy. And joy is far more vivid when it is a recoil from grief or terror, than when it is a continuance or higher degree of the same joy. And such songs strike, also, most powerfully the chords of feeling in other hearts and call forth an echo: for all can sympathize in such joy. And they are peculiar to men. Angels have no dangers, devils no deliverance. They are characteristically human songs: they stamp the singer a native of earth. See the song at the Red Sea (Exo_15:1-27.; and that in Jdg_5:1-31.). And we, too, have songs of deliverance. Let us speak of some of them.
I. that sung on our deliverance from the most appalling danger. The Christians most thankful praise is praise for deliverance. The joy that breathes in his song is the joy of recovered safety. His whole happiness is a treasure rescued from utter wreck; he is a delivered man. In whatever scene, with whatever fellowship he mingles in his eternal career, he shall be marked as one that has been delivered. All the greatness that may yet come to him, all the blessedness that eternity shall put to his lips, all the glory to which his nature may ascend, cry out of deliverance. His is not the joy of the happy child who has never passed beyond the home of love and purity, but the joy of the reformed prodigal, who, despite a wasted heritage, blighted hopes, and a dishonoured name, has, after weary wanderings, again found a home of peace and love.
II. the believers song of deliverance from earthly sorrows and troubles. As the Christian has many a sorrow, so he has many a song. He has songs of deliverance when the judgments which threatened to overwhelm him have not been permitted to come nigh; songs of deliverance when they have come, and all Gods waves and billows have gone over him, and he has passed through the cloud and the sea unharmed. Even the dread chastisements of God which came upon David in consequence of his sin lost their terribleness and all that should make them dreaded. They were henceforth to work together for good; and therefore he lifts the song of deliverance, though the troubles were still with him. Evil in its outward aspect is not changed, but to the soul its spiritual relation is reversed. In the life of the true penitent the fruits of past wickedness, severed from the tree that nourished them, lose their noxious quality, and fatten the soil for future harvests of good. And therefore the pardoned sinner counts it all joy when he falls into tribulation. Hear again Davids song: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
III. the song of final and eternal deliverance. It is not till the Church has reached her heavenly home, and every member of the great body of Christ is finally redeemed from the power of the world,--and death, the last enemy, destroyed, that the glorified Church shall stand on the shores of the glassy sea, and swell high the anthem of triumph that began in the deliverance of Israel under Moses, and is consummated in the triumph of the Lamb, over the world, and sin, and death, and the grave. Then her joy shall be full, in the sense of her own safety assured for ever against all enemies. Nothing shall remain but joy add song. (J. Riddell.)
Compassed about with songs of deliverance
That is, not to have one or two, or a few occasions or deliverances to sing praises to God for, but abundant, yea innumerable causes to praise and magnify God, so as a man can look no way round about him, but he shall see many and infinite mercies, and so many songs and praises, every new mercy being a new matter of a new song of deliverance. For look as when a man hath endured an heavy, dark, and uncomfortable night, the morning approacheth, and light begins to appear, not in any one side of the heavens, but on every side, that, let a man look where he will, the light compasseth him, and it groweth lighter and lighter until perfect day: so, although Gods children seem to be in darkness and in the night of affliction, yet God affords some deliverance, and brings the joyful morning, and then they see the light of comfort on all sides, and can say, Now they are compassed with light and salvation. So as the thing which our prophet here professeth, is; first, that the Lord would afford him matter enough to frame and compile holy songs of joyful praise and thanks. Secondly, that this matter should be so plentiful and abundant, that nothing should on any side be about him, but that whence he ought to provoke himself to return joyful thanks, he should be begirt with blessings and mercy. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Many deliverances, many songs
What need is there of plurality of songs: may not one song serve; and if one may, what need many? One song perhaps may serve for one deliverance; but if there be many deliverances, must there not be many songs? And must there not be many deliverances when there are many bondages? And are there not many bondages when I incur a new bondage as often as I commit a new sin? And yet another reason as great as this: for say that Gods deliverance be but one, will that one deliverance require but one song? O my soul, it deserves, and therefore requires, I say not a plurality, but an infinity of songs; for there must be some songs to express it, and others to extol it; some songs of miserere and others of magnificat; some de profundis, and others in excelsis; some songs of praise, and others of thanksgiving; and though there will be a time when all these songs shall be collected into one, and so collected make the great Cantieum Canticorum, yet till that time come there will be need of many songs; and seeing I shall need many, I hope, O God, Thou wilt not see me want, and tie me to one song, but wilt compass me about with songs of deliverance. (Sir Richard Baker.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 You are my hiding place
You are my hiding place
Yahweh is spoken of as if he was a safe place from the attacks of the writer's enemies. AT: "You are like a place where I can hide myself from my enemies" (See: Metaphor)
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You will surround me with the songs of victory
This metaphor apparently means that Yahweh's protection of the writer is the cause for songs of victory to be sung. AT: "Because of you I will sing songs of victory" (See: Metaphor)
Selah
This may be a musical term that tells people how to sing or play their instruments here. Some translations write the Hebrew word, and some translations do not include it. See how you translated this in Psalms 3:2. (See: Copy or Borrow Words)
I will instruct you and teach you in the way
The words "instruct" and "teach" mean basically the same thing and emphasize careful instruction. AT: "I will teach you everything about the way" (See: Doublet)
I will instruct
Here the "I" is probably Yahweh who talks directly to David.
in the way which you should go
Living in the correct way is spoken of as if it were a path that the writer should walk. AT: "how you should live your life" (See: Metaphor)
with my eye upon you
Here "my eye" refers to Yahweh's attention. AT: "and direct my attention to you" or "and watch over you" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
trouble
instruct
teach
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 32:7 The Lord promises to be his people’s hiding…
32:7 The Lord promises to be his people’s hiding place (31:20). Instead of being overwhelmed by terror (31:13), the psalmist is surrounded by songs of victory.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.