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Psalm 31:8
You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
6I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the LORD.
7I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.
8You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
9Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
10For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.
Notice
Feet set in a large place suggest the relief of escaping an enemy’s grip, even as the surrounding prayer returns to distress.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What would having your feet set in a large place look like in your present circumstances?
Write on thisWhen have you thanked God for help while still needing to ask for mercy?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 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
Psalm 18:19He brought me out also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.Both passages describe God’s rescue through the same concrete image: being brought into a large place.
Psalm 118:5Out of my distress, I called on the LORD. The LORD answered me with freedom.Both passages credit the LORD with freedom, expressed as a large place in Psalm 31 and an answer to distress in Psalm 118.
Job 36:16Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.Both use spacious ground to picture relief, though Job describes what God would do and the psalm recounts help received.
Deuteronomy 32:30How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had delivered them up?Both attribute the outcome of enemy threats to God: the psalm recounts protection, while Deuteronomy describes being handed over.
Psalm 4:1For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm by David. Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy …Psalm 4 asks God for relief from distress; Psalm 31 thanks God for freedom from an enemy’s grasp.
Psalm 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.Psalm 27 asks God to prevent surrender to adversaries; Psalm 31 thanks God that the enemy has not gained possession.
2 Samuel 22:20He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.Both credit God with deliverance and describe its freedom through the shared phrase “a large place.”
1 Samuel 17:46Today, the LORD will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines …Both concern God’s power over capture: the psalm celebrates escape, while David declares that God will hand Goliath over for death.
1 Samuel 24:18You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when the LORD had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me.Both concern being in another person’s hand: the psalm celebrates escape from an enemy, while Saul acknowledges that David spared him.
1 Samuel 23:12Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” The LORD said, “They will deliver you up.”Both concern being handed to an enemy: David hears that Keilah will surrender him, while the psalm thanks God for protection.
Job 16:11God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.Both speak of God and hostile hands, but Job describes being handed over while the psalm celebrates being kept free.
Isaiah 19:4I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. A fierce king will rule over them,” says the Lord, GOD of Armies.Both concern God’s authority over hostile control: the psalm celebrates protection, while Isaiah announces Egypt’s surrender to a cruel ruler.
Where this verse fits
Answered prayer. gratitude. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Your gratitude need not wait until every trouble ends. David credits God with setting his feet in a large place, then asks for mercy in the distress that remains.
Now put it in your words.
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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).