Psalm 31 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 31:7, 31:11, 31:24
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 31
Into Your hand I entrust my spirit
Verse 31:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:1] For the director. A psalm of David.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:1] For the end. A psalm of David, of alarm.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds ekstasis, a state of alarm or being beside oneself, also echoed later in this psalm. A modern mystical trance is not imposed on the title.
Verse 31:2 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:2] In You, YHWH, I take refuge;
let me never be ashamed;
in Your righteousness deliver me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:2] In You, Lord, I hoped; may I never be put to shame;
in Your righteousness rescue me and bring me out.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek has two distinct rescue commands at the end, compared with one Hebrew deliverance verb.
Verse 31:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:3] Incline Your ear to me; rescue me quickly;
be for me a rock of refuge,
a fortified house to save me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:3] Incline Your ear to me;
hasten to bring me out;
be for me a protecting God
and a house of refuge to save me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s strong rock becomes Greek’s protecting God. The quick hearing and house of refuge agree.
Verse 31:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:4] For You are my crag and my fortress;
for Your name’s sake guide me and lead me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:4] For You are my stronghold and my refuge,
and for Your name’s sake You will guide me and nourish me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The protective images correspond broadly; Hebrew’s second guidance verb differs from Greek’s nourishing.
Verse 31:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:5] Bring me out of the net they hid for me,
for You are my refuge.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:5] You will bring me out of this trap they hid for me,
for You are my protector.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both rely upon God to release the speaker from a concealed trap; Hebrew is petitionary here, Greek explicitly anticipatory.
Verse 31:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:6] Into Your hand I entrust my spirit;
You have redeemed me, YHWH, God of truth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:6] Into Your hands I will entrust my spirit;
You redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The entrusting and accomplished redemption agree, with singular Hebrew hand and plural Greek hands. Saints: Luke 23:44–46 records Jesus addressing the Father with the entrusting clause immediately before His death. The psalm retains its future παραθήσομαι, I will entrust; Luke has the present παρατίθεμαι, I entrust. The Greek gospel text was read directly. [SBL-LUKE-PS]
Verse 31:7 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:7] I hate those who attend to empty vanities,
but I trust in YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:7] You hated those who guard vanities to no purpose;
but I hoped in the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew makes the speaker the subject of hatred; Greek makes God the subject. The two first-person declarations of reliance then agree.
Verse 31:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:8] I will exult and rejoice in Your steadfast love,
for You have seen my affliction;
You have known my soul’s distresses.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:8] I will exult and rejoice in Your mercy,
because You looked upon my humiliation;
You saved my soul from constraints
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew says God knows the soul’s troubles; Greek says He saves it from them. Joy in divine mercy agrees.
Verse 31:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:9] You did not shut me into an enemy’s hand;
You made my feet stand in a broad place.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:9] and did not enclose me in an enemy’s hands;
You set my feet in a spacious place.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both contrast enemy confinement with secure freedom.
Verse 31:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:10] Be gracious to me, YHWH, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away with grief,
my soul and my belly too.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:10] Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am afflicted;
my eye was troubled with anger,
my soul and my belly too.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew wasting under vexation or grief differs from Greek disturbance in anger. Both extend the suffering through the inward person.
Verse 31:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:11] For my life is spent in grief
and my years in sighing;
my strength fails through my iniquity,
and my bones waste away.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:11] For my life failed in pain
and my years in groaning;
my strength grew weak in poverty,
and my bones were troubled.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew connects failed strength with the speaker’s iniquity; Greek with poverty. The cause of suffering changes, alongside wasting versus disturbed bones.
Verse 31:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:12] Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
and especially to my neighbors,
a terror to those who know me;
those who see me outside flee from me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:12] Beyond all my enemies I became a reproach,
and greatly so to my neighbors,
and a fear to my acquaintances;
those who watched me outside fled from me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both describe social rejection and fearful avoidance. Hebrew’s opening min is provisionally causal; Greek explicitly gives a comparison beyond the enemies.
Verse 31:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:13] I am forgotten from the heart like a dead person;
I have become like a ruined vessel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:13] I was forgotten from the heart like a dead person;
I became like a lost vessel.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both depict the speaker as socially forgotten and useless, with a vessel that is ruined or lost.
Verse 31:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:14] For I hear the slander of many—terror on every side;
as they conspire together against me,
they plot to take my soul.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:14] For I heard the reproach of many dwelling all around;
as they gathered together against me,
they planned to take my soul.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has terror all around; Greek has people dwelling around. Both retain the concerted plot against the speaker’s life.
Verse 31:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:15] But I trust in You, YHWH;
I say, “You are my God.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:15] But I hoped in You, Lord;
I said, “You are my God.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both oppose the hostile conspiracy with personal reliance upon God.
Verse 31:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:16] My times are in Your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and my pursuers.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:16] My seasons are in Your hands;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies
and from those who pursue me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both entrust the course of life to God and ask escape from pursuers; divine hand is singular in Hebrew and plural in Greek.
Verse 31:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:17] Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
save me in Your steadfast love.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:17] Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
save me in Your mercy.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The blessing of divine presence and merciful rescue agree.
Verse 31:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:18] YHWH, do not let me be ashamed, for I have called upon You;
let the wicked be ashamed and silent in Sheol.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:18] Lord, may I not be put to shame, for I called upon You;
may the ungodly be ashamed and brought down to Hades.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew asks for the wicked’s silence in Sheol; Greek for their descent to Hades.
Verse 31:19 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:19] Let lying lips become mute,
those that speak insolence against the righteous
in arrogance and contempt.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:19] Let deceitful lips become speechless,
those that speak lawlessness against the righteous
in arrogance and contempt.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both silence hostile, contemptuous speech; Hebrew insolence differs from Greek lawlessness.
Verse 31:20 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:20] How great is Your goodness, which You have stored for those who fear You,
which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You
before the sons of humankind!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:20] How great is the multitude of Your kindness, Lord,
which You concealed for those who fear You,
which You accomplished for those who hope in You
before the sons of humankind!
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both praise goodness stored and enacted for God’s faithful people; Greek expressly adds Lord.
Verse 31:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:21] You hide them in the hiding place of Your presence from human conspiracies;
You conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:21] You will hide them in the hiding place of Your presence from human turmoil;
You will shelter them in a tent from the contradiction of tongues.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew rukhsim is provisionally conspiracies or entanglements; Greek explicitly gives turmoil. Both contrast divine shelter with hostile speech.
Verse 31:22 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:22] Blessed be YHWH,
for He has wondrously shown His steadfast love to me in a besieged city.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:22] Blessed be the Lord,
because He made His mercy wonderful in an enclosed city.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew explicitly says to me; Greek does not. The city may be fortified or under siege; the respective enclosure language is not assigned an unmentioned historical location.
Verse 31:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:23] But I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes!”
Yet You heard the voice of my pleas when I cried to You for help.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:23] But I said in my alarm,
“So I have been cast away from before Your eyes.”
For this reason You heard the voice of my petition when I cried to You.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s hearing reverses the fearful thought with yet; Greek connects it with for this reason. Cutting off differs from casting away.
Verse 31:24 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:24] Love YHWH, all His faithful ones!
YHWH preserves the trustworthy
and richly repays the one who acts arrogantly.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:24] Love the Lord, all His holy ones,
because the Lord seeks truths
and repays those who act with abundant arrogance.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew preserves faithful people; Greek seeks truths. Hebrew’s abundance qualifies the repayment, whereas Greek’s qualifies the arrogance.
Verse 31:25 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[31:25] Be strong, and let your heart be courageous,
all who hope in YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[30:25] Act courageously, and let your heart be strong,
all who hope in the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both end by summoning all who hope in God to courage.