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Psalms 131
Three verses, attributed to David, that refuse ambition: "my heart isn't arrogant, nor my eyes lofty" — no meddling in matters "too wonderful for me" (v. 1). After the depths of Psalm 130, this is deliberate smallness. The single startling image carries the whole poem: a soul stilled "like a weaned child with his mother" (v. 2) — no longer crying for milk, content simply to rest near her. Watch how restraint, not striving, becomes the posture of trust.
- 1
LORD, my heart isn’t arrogant, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me.
- 2
Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
- 3
Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forward and forever more.
- 1
SENHOR, o meu coração não é arrogante, nem os meus olhos são altivos; não me ocupo com coisas grandes demais, nem com coisas maravilhosas demais para mim.
- 2
Certamente aquietei e tranquilizei a minha alma; como uma criança desmamada junto a sua mãe, como uma criança desmamada está a minha alma dentro de mim.
- 3
Israel, espere no SENHOR, desde agora e para sempre.
The weaned child, not the nursing one
The picture is specifically of a weaned child: past the frantic hunger of infancy, the soul has stopped demanding and learned to be quiet beside its source of comfort.
Verse 3 hands this private calm to the nation — "Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forward and forever more" — turning one person's quieted heart into a model for the whole people.
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