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Psalm 31:16

Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.

14But I trust in you, LORD. I said, “You are my God.”
15My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
16Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.
17Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.
18Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
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← Psalm 31:15Psalm 31:17 →
Notice

A plea for God's shining face comes from a servant under threat, joining the need for rescue with the desire for God's favor.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What would God's face shining on you mean amid the trouble you face today?

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How does asking for rescue on the grounds of God's loving kindness shape your prayer?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Numbers 6:25The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.The blessing in Numbers and the plea in the psalm both ask for God's face to shine upon someone.
Psalm 4:6Many say, “Who will show us any good?” LORD, let the light of your face shine on us.Both prayers seek the light of God's face, one for a servant and the other for a wider group.
Psalm 6:4Return, LORD. Deliver my soul, and save me for your loving kindness’ sake.Each psalm asks God to save, grounding the plea in his loving kindness.
Psalm 67:1For the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us. Selah.God's shining face is sought in both psalms, alongside requests for rescue in one and mercy and blessing in the other.
Psalm 80:3Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.Both prayers link God's face shining upon his people with being saved.
Daniel 9:9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him.The shared thread is God's mercy, though Daniel names rebellion and forgiveness while the psalm asks for rescue.
Daniel 9:17–18“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the …A servant appeals to God's shining face in each prayer, over himself in the psalm and over the desolate sanctuary in Daniel.
Romans 9:15For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”Both passages concern God's kindness toward people; the psalm asks for rescue, while Romans declares God's freedom in showing mercy.
Ephesians 1:6–7to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved.The psalm seeks God's favor through a shining face; Ephesians praises the grace God gives in the Beloved.
Ephesians 2:4–7But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,God's love grounds the psalm's plea for rescue, and Ephesians describes God as rich in mercy and great in love.
Romans 9:23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory—The shared thread is God's mercy: the psalm appeals to loving kindness, while Romans speaks of recipients of mercy.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. fear for the future. anxiety or panic.

What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about anxiety →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Name one fear and pray this verse

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Encouragement

The servant asks for rescue while enemies still threaten. Your need for help can be spoken with the same candor; God's loving kindness is the ground of this prayer.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 31:16. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 31 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).