9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
10 Hear, O Jehovah, and have mercy upon me: Jehovah, be thou my helper.
11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
12 To the end that `my' glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Psalm 31 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
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Commentary on Psalms 30 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 30
This is a psalm of thanksgiving for the great deliverances which God had wrought for David, penned upon occasion of the dedicating of his house of cedar, and sung in that pious solemnity, though there is not any thing in it that has particular reference to that occasion. Some collect from divers passages in the psalm itself that it was penned upon his recovery from a dangerous fit of sickness, which might happen to be about the time of the dedication of his house.
In singing this psalm we ought to remember with thankfulness any like deliverances wrought for us, for which we must stir up our selves to praise him and by which we must be engaged to depend upon him.
A psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David.
Psa 30:1-5
It was the laudable practice of the pious Jews, and, though not expressly appointed, yet allowed and accepted, when they had built a new house, to dedicate it to God, Deu. 20:5. David did so when his house was built, and he took possession of it (2 Sa. 5:11); for royal palaces do as much need God's protection, and are as much bound to be at his service, as ordinary houses. Note, The houses we dwell in should, at our first entrance upon them, be dedicated to God, as little sanctuaries. We must solemnly commit ourselves, our families, and all our family affairs, to God's guidance and care, must pray for his presence and blessing, must devote ourselves and all ours to his glory, and must resolve both that we put away iniquity far from our tabernacles and that we and our houses will serve the Lord both in the duties of family worship and in all instances of gospel obedience. Some conjecture that this psalm was sung at the re-dedication of David's house, after he had been driven out of it by Absalom, who had defiled it with his incest, and that it is a thanksgiving for the crushing of that dangerous rebellion. In these verses,
Psa 30:6-12
We have, in these verses, an account of three several states that David was in successively, and of the workings of his heart towards God in each of those states-what he said and did, and how his heart stood affected; in the first of these we may see what we are too apt to be, and in the other two what we should be.