Psalms 31:16
in Psalms 31Make Your face shine on Your servant; save me by Your loving devotion.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: Save me in thy lovingkindness.
KJV
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.
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This verse in Psalms 31
Commentary
13 notes on this verseSince it seemed as though God had turned away from them and was angry with them, he asks for reconciliation: Only have regard to me, he is saying, and it is sufficient for my salvation.
This site's exposition
But I trust in You
on Psalms 31:14-16
My times are in Your hands is the widest claim the psalm makes, the whole course of his days held by God. Make Your face shine on Your servant asks for the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:25 in his own words. What he asks it on is God's loving devotion.
This site's exposition
Make Your face shine on Your servant
Diodorus of Tarsus heard a man who felt God had turned away, asking only to be looked on again. Charles Spurgeon noted that a servant needs only his master's favor. Augustine read the shining face as God showing openly that this man belongs to Him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Make Thy Face to shine upon Thy servant." Make it known to men, who do not think that I belong unto Thee, that Thy Face is bent upon me, and that I serve Thee. "Save me in Thy mercy."
The Medieval Church2 voices
Second, he prays to be advanced to good when he says, "Make your face to shine." Concerning this he does two things. First, he asks to be advanced in good things. Second, that he may not fail in his petition, at "Let me not be …
In this I trust, that I shall be saved if you make your face to shine on me, hiding your back from me.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " Make they face to shine upon thy servant; let me have the comfortable tokens and evidences of thy favour to me, and that shall put gladness in my heart in the midst of all my griefs." 3. That his prayers to God might be answered and his hopes in God accomplished (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant,....
5 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Give me the sunshine of heaven in my soul, and I will defy the tempests of earth. Permit me to enjoy a sense of thy favour, O Lord, and a consciousness that thou art pleased with my manner of life, and all men may frown and slander as they will. It is always enough for a servant if he pleases his master; others may be dissatisfied, but he is not their servant, they do not pay him his wages, and their opinions have no weight with him.
In this section of the Psalm he renews his prayers, urging the same pleas as at first: earnest wrestlers attempt over and over again the same means of gaining their point.
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Give me the sunshine of heaven in my soul, and I will defy the tempests of earth. Permit me to enjoy a sense of thy favour, O Lord, and a consciousness that thou art pleased with my manner of life, and all men may frown and slander as they will. It is always enough for a servant if he pleases his master; others may be dissatisfied, but he is not their servant, they do not pay him his wages, and their opinions have no weight with him. Save me for thy mercies' sake. The good man knows no plea but mercy; whoever might urge legal pleas David never dreamed of it.
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant - Only let me know that thou art reconciled to and pleased with me, and then, come what will, all must be well. Save me for thy mercies’ sake - Literally, Save me in thy mercy.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant - That is, show me thy favor, or be kind and merciful to me. See the notes at Psa 4:6. Save me for thy mercies’ sake - On account of thy mercy; or that thy mercy may be manifested. This is always a just ground of appeal to God by a sinner or a sufferer, that God would make our sins and trials an “occasion” for displaying his own character. There are, indeed, other grounds of appeal; but there is no one that is more pure or exalted than this.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָאִ֣ירָה | hairah | make shine ! | H215 → | 43 times |
| פָ֭נֶיךָ | faneikha | face your | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ | ʾavdekha | servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| ה֖וֹשִׁיעֵ֣נִי | hoshieni | save me | H3467 → | 206 times |
| בְחַסְדֶּֽךָ׃ | vechasdekha | in covenant loyalty your | H2617 → | 247 times |
הָאִ֣ירָהmake shine !
hairahH215 →43 times
פָ֭נֶיךָface your
faneikhaH6440 →2123 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
עַבְדֶּ֑ךָservant your
ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times
ה֖וֹשִׁיעֵ֣נִיsave me
hoshieniH3467 →206 times
בְחַסְדֶּֽךָ׃in covenant loyalty your
vechasdekhaH2617 →247 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 9:15For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
it leads to
- Exodus 33:19
“I will cause all My goodness to pass before you,” the LORD replied, “and I will proclaim My name—the LORD—in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will…
- Romans 9:16
So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
- Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Romans 9:18–19
Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
- Exodus 34:6–7
Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
- Exodus 33:19
Through
Psalms 4:6Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD.
it leads to
- Psalms 80:19
Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 80:19
Through
Daniel 9:9To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him
it leads to
- Ephesians 1:6–8
to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.
- Daniel 9:7
To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You…
- Ephesians 1:6–8
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 31; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Diodorus of Tarsus, COMMENTARY ON PSALM 31; Diodorus of Tarsus, Commentary on Psalm 31; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Athanasius, EXPOSITION ON PSALM 31 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.