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Psalm 30

Psalm 30 recounts God’s rescue from the edge of death, exposing fragile confidence in prosperity and turning mourning into praise.

David praises YHWH for healing him and keeping him alive when death was near. He calls God’s faithful people to join his thanks, then recalls how his confidence in prosperity gave way to trouble when God hid his face. His plea for mercy ends in dancing and renewed praise. The heading names David and connects the song with the temple’s dedication, though the exact crisis and dedication setting are uncertain.

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1A Psalm. A Song for the Dedication of the Temple. By David. I will extol you, LORD, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.
2LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.
3LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
4Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name.
5For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
6As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
7You, LORD, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.
8I cried to you, LORD. I made supplication to the Lord:
9“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
10Hear, LORD, and have mercy on me. LORD, be my helper.”
11You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,
12to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected. Tap a number for its page.
Key verses
Psalm 30:5The contrast between brief anger and lasting favor grounds the call for God’s people to join David’s praise.
Psalm 30:11Dancing and changed clothing make the reversal visible: God has brought the mourner into gladness.
Psalm 30:2David names God as the one who answered his cry with healing, establishing the reason for his thanks.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah and Jeremiah share Psalm 30’s imagery of mourning changed into joy, with gladness marking God’s work of restoration. Lamentations shares its contrast between affliction and divine compassion, while John also speaks of sorrow giving way to joy.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does David’s memory of prosperity shape your reading of his plea for mercy?

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What part of the movement from crying out to giving thanks could you write about today?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 30

Who wrote Psalm 30, and why is it called a temple dedication song?

The heading attributes Psalm 30 to David and identifies it as a song for the temple’s dedication. The body recounts healing and rescue from death without describing a dedication ceremony. The heading supplies a worship setting, but the text does not identify the precise occasion or explain how the two are linked.

Does Psalm 30:5 mean sadness will end by the next morning?

The line “Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning” uses night and morning to portray a reversal from sorrow to joy. It follows the contrast between God’s brief anger and lifelong favor. The verse celebrates God’s mercy without setting a next-day deadline for every grief.

What does Sheol mean in Psalm 30?

Sheol is a Hebrew term for the realm of the dead. Here it stands alongside the pit and the threat of becoming dust. David says God kept him alive, so the language describes rescue from threatened death. The psalm does not describe a return to life after an actual death.

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What the Bible says about gratitude →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).