Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

PSALMS 31:4KJV
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Psalms 31:4 (KJV)

What does Psalms 31:4 mean?

Psalms 31:4 is a plea to God for help against people who have secretly prepared harm for the speaker. The speaker asks God to free him because he looks to God as the source of his strength.

The “net” pictures a trap set to catch someone who does not see it coming. After asking God to lead and guide him in verse 3, the speaker describes the danger from which he needs to be pulled.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 31:4

  • “privily” — טָמַן (taman): This word carries the sense of hiding or concealing something. The danger is not simply a trap; the people who set it have kept it out of sight.

  • “strength” — מָעוֹז (maʿoz): This word can refer to a place of safety or a stronghold. The KJV’s “strength” expresses the speaker’s reliance on God, while the Hebrew word can also suggest shelter from danger.

Why Psalms 31:4 matters

  • The verse presents the danger as deliberate. “They have laid” the net describes people actively preparing a trap, rather than an accident that has happened to the speaker.

  • The request joins danger with trust. The word “for” gives the reason for the plea: the speaker asks God to pull him out because God is his “strength.”

  • The net image gives the request a sense of being caught or surrounded. “Pull me out” asks for release from the danger, not merely help in seeing where the trap lies.

Where else these words appear

“that” Hebrew H2098 · used in 15 verses

  • Exodus 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
  • Psalms 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
  • Psalms 142:3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.

“net” Hebrew H7568 · used in 21 verses

  • Exodus 27:4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.
  • Psalms 25:15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
  • Lamentations 1:13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

“privily” Hebrew H2934 · used in 29 verses

  • Genesis 35:4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
  • Job 20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
  • Proverbs 19:24 A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

“strength” Hebrew H4581 · used in 35 verses

  • Judges 6:26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.
  • Proverbs 10:29 The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
  • Ezekiel 24:25 Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,