Psalm 131, Like a Child with its Mother

A song of ascents. Of David.

This is the twelvth of fifteen psalms identified as "songs of ascents," likely sung as people traveled to Jerusalem and then went up to the temple. In this song, David turns to God and feels His/Her arms wrap around him. This is the humble David that Israel loved, not the arrogant David of later years,

Psalm 131:1, Not proud

My heart is not proud, O LORD, 

my eyes are not haughty; 

I do not concern myself with great matters 

or things too wonderful for me.

The singer goes to God in all humility. There is no arrogance in approaching God. 

Kidner says that the second half of the verse deals with presumption and overreach.

Psalm 131:2, Like a weaned child

But I have stilled and quieted my soul; 

like a weaned child with its mother, 

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Imagine a child that has fallen down and scraped her knee. She runs crying to her mother, who scoops her up and sits with her for a time. The child snuggles into her mother's chest, a thumb in her mouth and closes her eyes. Her soul is calmed and quieted. This is the image David sees as he goes running to God.

Psalm 131:3, O Israel

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD 

both now and forevermore.

At the end, David turns to Israel and instructs the nation to also crawl into God's lap and take rest there.

Caroline Cobb has an album on the psalms. (You can find Caroline Cobb on Spotify here.) Her rendition of Psalm 131 is Like a Child with its Mother. I find this rendition moving.

The image of God as a mother, comforting her child, is also carried in Isaiah 66:12-13.

Some Random Thoughts

I listened to Caroline Cobb's version of this as a calming song, in the midst of the turmoil leading up to the 2024 election. And like one unconcerned by "great matters", I turned down my reading of social media and "calmed and quieted my soul."

Since the psalm is only three verses and the image of a child in her mother's nap is so vivid and reassuring to me, I went ahead and memorized the psalm.

The metaphor in the psalm places God in the role of mother. It is OK to run to God, crawl in God's lap and quiet your soul.

First published November 14, 2025; updated November 14, 2025