Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 31:15 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 15. 15My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 31:15: Within “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” the line “My times are in thy hand” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
A spirit committed while the vessel feels broken
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 31:1–24. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 31:1–24
Read Psalms 31:15 with 31:1–24. Read alone, “My times are in thy hand” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 31:1–24, the individual voice carries the movement “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief” as part of “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief.” Its lament-confidence form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 31:1–24 opens Psalm 31 with “In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy…” and establishes the individual voice and “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 31:15 adds the distinct poetic line “My times are in thy hand” within “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 31:1–24; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 31:1–24, the individual voice carries the movement “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief” as part of “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief.” Its lament-confidence form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- The poem's bodily and social anguish must not be romanticized, diagnosed from afar, or used to tell sufferers that trust ends distress on demand.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 31:15 does not allow “My times are in thy hand” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse adds the distinct poetic line “My times are in thy hand” within “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The complete movement is “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief.” The poem's bodily and social anguish must not be romanticized, diagnosed from afar, or used to tell sufferers that trust ends distress on demand.
What Remains True
Because this verse serves “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” its enduring claim is proportionate: Biblical faith can speak unresolved pain directly, remain in relationship, seek safe help, and refuse the claim that anguish proves guilt or failed faith. Psalm 31:15 adds the distinct poetic line “My times are in thy hand” within “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The local movement is “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The poem's bodily and social anguish must not be romanticized, diagnosed from afar, or used to tell sufferers that trust ends distress on demand.
How It Can Shape Life
- The practice should match “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief” rather than an isolated slogan. Psalm 31:15 adds the distinct poetic line “My times are in thy hand” within “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. Therefore, Use “My times are in thy hand” to practice honest prayer without diagnosing the sufferer, imposing a recovery deadline, or treating unresolved grief as weak faith.
Teach It Back
Build a short teaching of Psalm 31:15: quote “My times are in thy hand,” summarize “Refuge amid slander, isolation, and grief,” show the line's role, cite the checked context, preserve one alternative, derive a safe practice, and make this negation explicit: The poem's bodily and social anguish must not be romanticized, diagnosed from afar, or used to tell sufferers that trust ends distress on demand.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 31:1–24 — Refuge amid slander, isolation, and griefSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
The poem's bodily and social anguish must not be romanticized, diagnosed from afar, or used to tell sufferers that trust ends distress on demand.
This Lens uses WHO guidance only to avoid unsafe modern communication about distress, isolation, death wishes, or severe loss; it does not diagnose the speaker or replace exegesis and appropriate care.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 31:1–24, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 31:1–24
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 31:1–24.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 31 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 31:1–24
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 31:1–24
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 31 for Psalms 31:1–24
Open NETS Psalms ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 31:1–24
Open the WHO communication guide ↗