Psalm 119
176 verses · Acrostic psalm of the Law
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD.
Introduction
Author unstated, the Torah psalm, Book 5: The return and the great Hallelujah, Poetry, Psalms Overview.
The writer of this psalm is never named, and the psalm never says when it was written. What it gives instead is one life held open before God: a man scorned by people in power, who answers by asking to be taught, kept, revived and held steady by what God has said. He prays it through the whole Hebrew alphabet, eight verses to each of the twenty-two letters, and he says the word of God by eight different names. Listen for those eight names, and for how often the prayer asks for life.
Context
- Who
- Israelites for whom the law had become the centre of communal life after the temple and the monarchy had failed
- What
- An acrostic of twenty two stanzas of eight verses, every stanza on the word of God.
- Where
- Judah after the return from exile, in the second temple community.
- When
- The second temple period, about 538 to 300 BC, with the author unnamed and the date contested.
- Why
- To train a reader to live by a written law he loves rather than a rule he submits to.
Historical context
This is the longest chapter in the Bible, one hundred and seventy six verses. It is built as an acrostic of twenty two stanzas of eight verses each, and every verse of a stanza opens with that stanza's Hebrew letter. Nearly every verse names the word of God by one of about eight terms: law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, word and promise. Its setting is a community whose religious life ran through a text, because after the exile the reading of the law in public, which Nehemiah 8 describes, became the centre of Israel's common life. The trouble in it is concrete and repeated: the proud slander the speaker, princes sit and speak against him, and affliction has worn him down. An acrostic of this size is a structure for learning a body of material by heart.
Significance
To Israelites rebuilding after the exile it said that a life can be built on a text, and it said so at length, under pressure, and without claiming the pressure had lifted. It also gave them the words for a relationship with Scripture rather than a rule about it. The psalm delights, longs, hopes, remembers, clings and runs, and every one of those verbs takes the law as its object.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The longest chapter of the Bible runs twenty two stanzas of eight verses, one stanza to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and this site carries its stanza notes at scripts/data/chapter-study/psalms-119.json. The corpus of classical commentary this row is written from reaches only as far as verse 24, so what follows is the classical reading of the first three stanzas and no further.
Rashi reads the psalm as the prayer of a man under pressure for keeping the law. On verse 23, where princes sit and talk, he writes that the kings of the heathens scorn the speaker "because I engage in the Torah", which places the whole psalm in the setting of a community that studies while it is mocked (Rashi on Psalms 119:23:1, Rashi on Psalms, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY).
Two comments turn the psalm's requests into requests about study. The hidden things asked for at verse 18 he reads as things hidden in the Torah "which are not explained therein", and the word hidden in the heart at verse 11 he reads as a refusal to let oneself forget it (Rashi on Psalms 119:18:1 and 119:11:1, same edition). The stranger of verse 19 he reads as a man in the land for a short time.
Much of the bench here is grammatical, on the letters in the words for prayers, for occupying oneself and for a crushed soul, where Rashi names the earlier lexicographer Menachem and sets a second reading beside his own (Rashi on Psalms 119:5:1, 119:16:1 and 119:20:1, same edition). Ibn Ezra carries thirteen comments on the same stanzas for which Sefaria holds no English version, and they are cited by reference (Ibn Ezra on Psalms 119:1:1 and the twelve references beside it).
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty places where the Midrash and the Talmud cite this psalm, thirty four under Midrash and six under Talmud, and it carries the locator for each one with no text. These forty reach as far as verse 73, so they cover nine of the twenty two stanzas.
The Babylonian Talmud cites the first verse at Berakhot 4b:18, verse 46 at Berakhot 4a:10 and verse 28 at Berakhot 28a:19, and it reads verse 20 at Avodah Zarah 19a:10 and verse 56 at Avodah Zarah 44a:16. Avot DeRabbi Natan reads verse 73 at 1:8.
Midrash Tehillim treats this psalm stanza by stanza, at 119:4, 119:5, 119:6, 119:11, 119:12, 119:16, 119:17, 119:18 and 119:19, and reads its verses from five other psalms at 1:5, 3:3, 31:6, 39:2 and 142:6. Bamidbar Rabbah reads verse 21 at 10:2, verse 54 at 21:12 and verse 62 at 15:16, and Vayikra Rabbah reads verse 59 at 35:1. The site reports where the rabbis cite the verse and reports no saying, because the locator carries none.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Psalms 119, verses 1 to 24, in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Psalms 119, verses 1 to 24, cited by reference; Sefaria holds no English version; MannaFest, the stanza notes on Psalm 119, at scripts/data/chapter-study/psalms-119.json, 2026; The Midrash and the Talmud, the forty locators on Psalms 119 in scripts/data/sources/sefaria/psalms/119.json.
The structure of this chapter
The text supplies its own division, one stanza to each of the twenty-two Hebrew letters. Every verse of a stanza opens with that stanza’s letter, and the outline below is cut the same way.
Aleph
In the pictographic reading this letter represents strength and the one who leads.
Verses 1 to 8
Opens by blessing those who walk in the law, then asks that his own ways hold steady.
Open the stanzaClose the stanza
Psalms 119:1-8
Blessed are those whose way is blameless: Seven names for the word stand in these eight verses: law, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments and judgments. The psalm opens on Blessed, as Psalm 1:1 does. Verse 8 closes on a plea that God not utterly forsake him.
Psalms 119:1
And as he is Firstborn among brothers and rose from the dead "the firstfruits of them that slept"; so, since it became him "in all things to have the preeminence," therefore he is created "a beginning of ways," that we, walking along it and entering through him who says, "I am the Way" and "the Door" and partaking of the knowledge of the Father, may also hear the words, "Blessed are the undefiled in the Way," and "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
keep His testimonies: Verse 1 blessed the walk, and verse 2 goes beneath it to the heart. The testimonies, edot in Hebrew, are God's witness to His own will, the name given to the tablets placed in the ark at Exodus 25:16. Keeping them leads to Him.
Psalms 119:2
“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies - His commandments or laws, considered as what he bears witness to concerning that which is just, wise, good. Every law of a parent is to his children a testimony on his part of what is wise and right and good; and so every law of God is his solemn testimony as to what is right and good for man. See Psa 19:7, note; Psa 25:10, note.”
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:2
“Listen now to what he adds: "Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with their whole heart" [Psalm 119:2]. No other class of the blessed seems to me to be mentioned in these words, than that which has been already spoken of. For to examine into the testimonies of the Lord, and to seek Him with all the heart, this is to be undefiled in the way, this is to walk in the law of the Lord.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:2
“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies,.... The whole word of God, the Scriptures of truth, are his testimonies: they testify of the mind of God, and of his love and grace in the method of salvation by Christ; they testify of Christ, his person, offices, and grace; of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow; and of all the happiness that comes to the people of God thereby. The law is called a testimony, which being put into the ark, that had the name of the ark of the testimony.”
Psalms 119:2
"Blessed are they that keep his testimonies." What! A second blessing? Yes, they are doubly blessed whose outward life is supported by an inward zeal for God's glory. In the first verse we had an undefiled way, and it was taken for granted that the purity in the way was not mere surface work, but was attended by the inward truth and life which comes of divine grace. Here that which was implied is expressed.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
They do no iniquity: The claim sounds like sinlessness, and the same psalm ends with its writer strayed like a lost sheep at verse 176. The verse describes the settled direction of a life. Verse 1 spoke of their way, and here they walk in His ways.
Psalms 119:3
“They also do no iniquity. Blessed indeed would those men be of whom this could be asserted without reserve and without explanation: we shall have reached the region of pure blessedness when we altogether cease from sin. Those who follow the word of God do no iniquity, the rule is perfect, and if it be constantly followed no fault will arise.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:3
“It is written, and is read, and is true, in this Psalm, that "They who do wickedness, walk not in His ways" (ver. 3). But we must endeavour, with the help of God, "in" whose "hand are both we and our words," that what is rightly said, by not being rightly understood, may not confuse the reader or hearer.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:3
“They also do no iniquity - They avoid all idolatry, injustice, and wrong; and they walk in God’s ways, not in those ways to which an evil heart might entice them, nor those in which the thoughtless and the profligate tread.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:3
“They also do no iniquity - See the notes at 1Jn 3:9. The meaning is, that they are righteous; their character is that they do that which is right. It cannot mean that all persons who are religious are actually and absolutely perfect - for no man would hold this opinion; no one does hold it. It is general language such as is commonly used to describe an upright or righteous man.”
You have ordained Your precepts: Here the psalm turns from speaking about the blessed to speaking to God, and most of what follows is addressed to Him. Precepts, piqqudim, are charges laid down by one with the authority to give them. The keeping asked for is diligent.
Psalms 119:4
“Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. So that when we have done all we are unprofitable servants, we have done only that which it was our duty to have done, seeing we have our Lord's command for it. God's precepts require careful obedience: there is no keeping them by accident. Some give to God a careless service, a sort of hit or miss obedience, but the Lord has not commanded such service, nor will he accept it.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:4
“Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.”
Psalms 119:4
“Witnesses are those expressions of pious prayers in holy Scriptures, whereby it is shown, that those very things, which are commanded by God, are not done save by His Gift and help, Who commands. For there is a falsehood in the asking for them, if we could do them without the help of His grace. What is there so generally and chiefly charged, as obedience whereby the Commandments of God are kept? And yet we find this wished for. "Thou," saith he, "hast charged, that Thy commandments be greatly kept."”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · On Holy Virginity 41:42patristic
Psalms 119:4
“Thou hast commanded - All this is here traced to the command of God; to the fact that he has required it. It is not mere human prudence; it is not mere morality; it is not because it will be for our interest; it is because God requires it. This is the foundation of all true virtue; and until a man acts from this motive it cannot be said that he is in the proper sense a righteous man. To keep thy precepts diligently - Hebrew, “very much;” that is, to do it constantly; faithfully.”
Psalms 119:4
“Thy precepts diligently - מאד meod, “superlatively, to the uttermost.” God has never given a commandment, the observance of which he knew to be impossible. And to whatsoever he has commanded he requires obedience; and his grace is sufficient for us. We must not trifle with God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Oh, that my ways were committed: The command of verse 4 meets its answer in a sigh. The man who has just said God ordained the precepts to be kept diligently wishes his own ways were fixed on keeping them. Duty set down by God becomes a prayer to God.
Psalms 119:5
“O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! "Divine commands should direct us in the subject of our prayers. We cannot of ourselves keep God's statutes as he would have them kept, and yet we long to do so: what resort have we but prayer? We must ask the Lord to work our works in us, or we shall never work out his commandments.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:5
“O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!”
Psalms 119:5
"O that," he saith, "my ways were made so direct, that I might keep Thy statutes" (ver. 5). Thou indeed hast charged: O that I could realize what thou hast charged. When thou hearest, "O that," recognise the words of one wishing; and having recognised the expression of a wish, lay aside the pride of presumption. For who saith that he desireth what he hath in such a manner in his power, that without need of any help he can do it? Therefore if man desireth what God chargeth, God must be prayed to grant Himself what He enjoineth...
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:5
“O that my ways were directed - “I wish that my way may be confirmed to keep thy statutes.” Without thee I can do nothing; my soul is unstable and fickle; and it will continue weak and uncertain till thou strengthen and establish it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:5
“O that my ways were directed ... - Indicating the desire of the pious heart. That desire - a prevailing, constant, uniform desire - is to keep the law of God. It is the aim of the life; it is the supreme purpose of the soul; it is the ruling wish of the man, thus to keep the law of God. He in whose bosom this is not the constant wish cannot be a pious man. The Hebrew particle used here, and rendered “O that,” is a particle denoting a wish, or an earnest desire.”
Then I would not be ashamed: Then ties this verse to the wish of verse 5. The measure is all the commandments, the whole law looked at with nothing left out. Albert Barnes sent the reader of verse 80 back here, where the same fear of shame closes the Yod stanza.
Psalms 119:6
“ANY attempt to keep the Law of God with the view of being saved thereby is sure to end in failure. So contrary is it to the express warnings of the Divine Lawgiver and so much does it run counter to the whole Gospel, that he who ventures to seek justification by his own merits ought to be ashamed of his presumption. When God tells us that salvation is not by the works of the Law, are you not ashamed of trying to procure it by your obedience to its precepts?”
with an upright heart: The praise waits on the learning, rising as the judgments are learned. Judgments, mishpatim, are God's rulings, the decisions of a judge given as law. An upright heart is the instrument of the praise.
Psalms 119:7
"I will confess unto Thee," he saith, "O Lord, in the directing of my heart; in that I shall have learned the judgments of Thy righteousness" [Psalm 119:7]. This is not the confession of sins, but of praise; as He also saith in whom there was no sin, "I will confess unto Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth;" [Matthew 11:25] and as it is written in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, "Thus shalt thou say in confession, of all the works of God, that they are very good."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 119patristic
I will keep Your statutes: The resolve and the fear stand in one line. The word utterly is the hinge: he can bear a season of God's withdrawal and asks that it stop short of abandonment. The first stanza ends on a man aware of his own frailty.
Psalms 119:8
"I will keep thy statutes." A calm resolve. When praise calms down into solid resolution it is well with the soul. Zeal which spends itself in singing, and leaves no practical residuum of holy living, is little worth: "I will praise" should be coupled with "I will keep." This firm resolve is by no means boastful, like Peter's "though I should die with thee, yet will I not forsake thee," for it is followed by a humble prayer for divine help, "O forsake me not utterly."
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:8
“Next he addeth: "I will keep Thy ordinances" (ver. 8). ...But what is it that followeth? "O forsake me not even exceedingly!" or, as some copies have it, "even too much," instead of, "even exceedingly."”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:8
“I will keep thy statutes - Thy commands; thy laws. This expresses the firm purpose of the psalmist, He meant to keep the law of God; he could confidently say that he would do it - yet coupled with the prayer which follows, that God would not forsake him. O forsake me not utterly - Hebrew, “To very much;” so as to leave me to myself. His confidence that he would keep the commandments of God was based on the prayer that God would not leave him.”
Psalms 119:8
“O forsake me not utterly - עד מאד ad meod, “to utter dereliction;” never leave me to my own strength, nor to my own heart!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Bet
In the pictographic reading this letter represents the household and what is within.
Verses 9 to 16
Answers how a young man keeps his way pure, and stores the word in the heart.
Open the stanzaClose the stanza
Psalms 119:9-16
How can a young man keep his way pure?: The question is how a young man keeps his way pure, and the answer given is guarding it by the word. Verse 11 puts the word inside the man, hidden in the heart. Around it stand proclaiming, rejoicing, meditating, delighting, and never forgetting.
Psalms 119:9
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" How shall he become and remain practically holy? He is but a young man, full of hot passions, and poor in knowledge and experience; how shall he get right, and keep right? Never was there a more important question for any man; never was there a fitter time for asking it than at the commencement of life. It is by no means an easy task which the prudent young man sets before him.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:9
“ב, BETH.--The Second Part. BETH. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way?.... Some think David means himself, and that he was a young man when he wrote this psalm; and which they think is confirmed by Psa 119:100; but neither of them seem conclusive; rather any young man is meant, and who is particularly mentioned, because young men are liable to sins and snares, to carnal lusts and sensual pleasures, which are of a defiling nature.”
Psalms 119:9
“Let us listen, then, to the master of precaution: "I said, I will pay attention to my ways"; that is, "I said to myself: in the silent biddings of my thoughts, I have enjoined on myself, that I should pay attention to my ways." Some ways there are that we ought to follow; others as to which we ought to pay attention. We must follow the ways of the Lord and pay attention to our own ways, lest they lead us into sin. One can pay attention if one is not hasty in speaking.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Duties of the Clergy 1.2.7patristic
With all my heart I have sought You: Verse 2 blessed those who seek Him with all their heart, and here the writer claims that seeking as his own. John Gill read the object as God Himself, His face, His presence and His grace. Even so he asks to be kept from straying.
Psalms 119:10
“With my whole heart have I sought thee,.... Not himself, his own honour and applause, as formal worshippers and self-righteous persons do; but the Lord and his glory, his face, his presence, and communion with him, his grace, and fresh supplies of it, to help in time of need; his doctrine, as the Targum; and to know more of it, and of him, and of his mind and will; and this he did in the most sincere manner, with all his heart and soul.”
I have hidden Your word in my heart: The Hebrew verb, tsaphan, is used for storing a treasure away safely, as at Proverbs 2:1. The purpose is named at once: a guard against sin, set in the place where sin begins. The store is kept for use.
Psalms 119:11
“When a godly man sues for a favour from God he should carefully use every means for obtaining it, and accordingly, as the Psalmist had asked to be preserved from wandering, he here shows us the holy precaution which he had taken to prevent his falling into sin. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart." His heart would be kept by the word because he kept the word in his heart.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:11
"Thy words have I hid within my heart, that I may not sin against Thee" (ver. 11). He at once sought the Divine aid, lest the words of God might be hidden without fruit in his heart, unless works of righteousness followed. For after saying this, he added, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy righteousnesses" (ver. 12). "Teach me," he saith, as they learn who do them; not as they who merely remember them, that they may have somewhat to speak of.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:11
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart - Compare the notes at Psa 37:31. The word rendered “hid” means properly to conceal, so that a thing may be secret, private, inaccessible; then, to lay up in private, to treasure up. to hoard - as money or jewels - commonly “hidden” from public view. Job 20:26; Psa 17:14. Then it means to lay up in one’s heart, as a secret, inaccessible place; to hide one’s thoughts; purposes, designs; or to lay up knowledge or wisdom in the heart as a treasure, Job 10:13; Pro 2:1; Pro 7:1.”
Psalms 119:11
“Thy word have I hid in my heart - 7. He must treasure up those portions of God’s word in his mind and heart which speak against uncleanness of every kind; and that recommend purity, chastity, and holiness. The word of Christ should dwell richly in him. If God’s word be only in his Bible, and not also in his heart, he may soon and easily be surprised into his besetting sin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Blessed are You, O LORD: The word that blessed the man in verse 1 is now spoken of God. The request after it, teach me Your statutes, comes here for the first time and returns in verses 26, 64, 68, 124 and 135. Praise opens the way to the asking.
Psalms 119:12
"Blessed art thou, O LORD." These are words of adoration arising out of an intense admiration of the divine character, which the writer is humbly aiming to imitate. He blesses God for all that he has revealed to him, and wrought in him; he praises him with warmth of reverent love, and depth of holy wonder. These are also words of perception uttered from a remembrance of the great Jehovah's infinite happiness within himself.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:12
“Blessed art thou, O Lord,.... In himself, in his nature, persons, and perfections; the fountain of all happiness to angels and men, in time and to eternity; to whom all blessing, honour, and glory, are to be given. The psalmist takes this method of praising and ascribing blessing to God, for what he had received from him; particularly for teaching him what he had learned, Psa 119:7; in hopes of succeeding in his following request: teach me thy statutes; the knowledge of the best is imperfect.”
Psalms 119:12
“Blessed art thou, O Lord - Blessed art thou as the author of such a law. This language of benediction or doxology is an outbreak of feeling or adoration in view of such a law - so good, so holy, so suited to direct and guide man. The mind is full of the subject; and the lips give vent to the feeling of gratitude and joy that such a law had been revealed to people. Teach me thy statutes - Make me more and more acquainted with a law so pure, so rich, so valuable.”
Psalms 119:12
“Blessed art thou - 8. He must acknowledge the mercy of God, in so far preserving him from all the consequences of his sin. 9. He should beg of him to become his teacher that his heart and conscience might be instructed in the spirituality of his statutes.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
With my lips I proclaim: What was hidden in the heart in verse 11 now comes out through the lips. The judgments came from God's mouth, and they pass through a man's mouth to others. Hearing leads to telling.
Psalms 119:13
"With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth." The taught one of Psa 119:12 is here a teacher himself. What we learn in secret we are to proclaim upon the housetops. So had the Psalmist done. As much as he had known he had spoken. God has revealed many of his judgments by his mouth, that is to say, by a plain and open revelation; these it is our duty to repeat, becoming, as it were, so many exact echoes of his one infallible voice.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:13
“With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.”
Psalms 119:13
"With my lips have I been telling of all the judgments of Your mouth" [Psalm 119:13]; that is, I have kept silent nothing of Your judgments, which Thou willed should become known to me through Your words, but I have been telling of all of them without exception with my lips.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:13
“With my lips have I declared - That is, I have openly and publicly made thy words known to others; I have defended and vindicated them. All the judgments - The word judgments here means the same as statutes or laws: and the idea is, that he had been on the side of those laws, and had endeavored by argument and persuasion to bring others under their influence.”
Psalms 119:13
“With my lips have I declared - 10. He should declare to his own heart, and to all his companions in iniquity, God’s judgments against himself and them; that if his longsuffering merely have not made a proper impression on their hearts, they may tremble at his approaching judgments.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies: The joy is taken in the way of the testimonies, the walking in them day by day. The measure is the delight other men take in all riches. Verses 72 and 127 set the word above gold again.
Psalms 119:14
"I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies." Delight in the word of God is a sure proof that it has taken effect upon the heart, and so is cleansing the life. The Psalmist not only says that he does rejoice, but that he has rejoiced. For years it had been his joy and bliss to give his soul to the teaching of the word. His rejoicing had not only arisen out of the word of God, but out of the practical characteristics of it. The Way was as dear to him as the Truth and the Life.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:14
"I have had as great delight in the way Your testimonies, as in all manner of riches" [Psalm 119:14]. We understand that there is no more speedy, no more sure, no shorter, no higher way of the testimonies of God than Christ, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." [Colossians 2:3] Thence he says that he has had as great delight in this way, as in all riches. Those are the testimonies, by which He deigns to prove unto us how much He loves us.. ..
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:14
“In the way of God's commandments I can truly say, Soul, take thy ease; " in true religion there is all riches, the unsearchable riches of Christ. He looks forward with a holy resolution never to cool in his affection to the word of God; what he does that he will do, 2 Cor. xi. Those that have found pleasure in the ways of God are likely to proceed and persevere in them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 119:14
“I have rejoiced ... - I do rejoice; I exult in this; I find my happiness there. The word expresses a high degree of joy. As much as in all riches - Hebrew, “as upon all wealth.” As people rejoice who have great wealth. I find my happiness in religion, as if in the possession of real wealth. Pro 10:22.”
Psalms 119:14
“I have rejoiced - 11. He must consider it his chief happiness to be found in the path of obedience, giving his whole heart and strength to God; and when enabled to do it, he should rejoice more in it than if he had gained thousands of gold and silver. O how great is the treasure of a tender and approving conscience!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I will meditate on Your precepts: Meditate translates siach, a word for musing aloud, turning a matter over in speech. Regard means to fix the eyes on something and keep them there. Both the musing and the look go to His ways.
Psalms 119:15
“I will meditate in thy precepts - I will think of them; I will find my happiness in them. See the notes at Psa 1:2. And have respect unto thy ways - And look to thy ways - thy commands. I continually regard them, or refer to them in my mind as the guide of my life. See the notes at Psa 119:6.”
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:15
“I will meditate in thy precepts,.... In his own mind; revolve them in his thoughts; consider well the nature, excellency, usefulness, and importance of them, and the obligations he lay under to observe them.”
Psalms 119:15
"I will talk of Your commandments, and have respect unto Your ways" [Psalm 119:15]. And thus the Church does exercise herself in the commandments of God, by speaking in the copious disputations of the learned against all the enemies of the Christian and Catholic faith; which are fruitful to those who compose them, if nothing but the ways of the Lord is regarded in them; but "All the ways of the Lord are," as it is written, "mercy and truth;" the fullness of which both is found in Christ.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:15
"I will meditate in thy precepts." He who has an inward delight in anything will not long withdraw his mind from it. As the miser often returns to look upon his treasure, so does the devout believer by frequent meditation turn over the priceless wealth which he has discovered in the book of the Lord. To some men meditation is a task; to the man of cleansed way it is a joy. He who has meditated will meditate; he who saith, "I have rejoiced," is the same who adds, "I will meditate."
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:15
“I will meditate - 12. He should encourage self-examination and reflection; and meditate frequently on God’s words, works, and ways - and especially on his gracious dealings towards him. 13. He should keep his eye upon God’s steps; setting the example of his Savior before his eyes, going where he would go, and nowhere else; doing what he would do, and nothing else; keeping the company that he would keep, and none else; and doing every thing in reference to the final judgment.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I will delight in Your statutes: Adam Clarke read the Hebrew for delight, eshtaasha, as a strong word: to skip about and jump for joy. Delight and memory are joined in the verse, the pleasure keeping the word in mind. Forgetting comes hard to what is loved.
Psalms 119:16
“I will delight myself - The word is very emphatical: אשתעשע eshtaasha, I will skip about and jump for joy. 14. He must exult in God’s word as his treasure, live in the spirit of obedience as his work, and ever glory in God, who has called him to such a state of salvation. 15. He must never forget what God has done for him, done in him, and promised farther to do; and he must not forget the promises he had made, and the vows of the Lord that are upon him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Gimel
In the pictographic reading this letter represents what is carried and what is given.
Verses 17 to 24
Asks for opened eyes and for scorn removed while rulers speak against him.
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Psalms 119:17-24
Deal bountifully with Your servant: He asks for open eyes to see wondrous things in the law, and calls himself a stranger on the earth. Then the trouble is named: rulers sit and slander him while he keeps meditating. The testimonies are his counselors when human counsel turns hostile.
Psalms 119:17
“ג, GIMEL.--The Third Part. GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant,.... Which character is mentioned, not by way of plea or argument for favour, but as expressive of modesty, sense of duty, and obligation to it. He pleads not his services by way of merit; but prays that God would deal bountifully with him, in a way of grace and mercy: or "render good" unto him, as the Targum; bestow it on him as a free gift.”
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:17
“And what wonder is it the Spirit works life, who enlivens as does the Father and as does the Son? And who can deny that giving new life is the work of the eternal Majesty? For it is written, "Give life to your servant." He, then, is enlivened who is a servant, that is, a person, who before he did not have life but received the privilege of having it.Let us then see whether the Spirit is enlivened, or himself giving life. Now it is written, "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." So, then, the Spirit enlivens.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Holy Spirit 2.4.29-31patristic
Open my eyes: The verb means to uncover, and John Gill read it as taking a veil off the eyes of the heart. The wondrous things are already in the law. The change asked for is in the reader.
Psalms 119:18
Hear me, therefore, my fellow servant, my friend, my brother; give ear for a moment that I may tell you how you are to walk in the holy Scriptures. All that we read in the divine books, while glistening and shining without, is yet far sweeter within. "He who desires to eat the kernel must first break the nut." "Open my eyes," says David, "that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 58.9patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:18
“Open thou mine eyes,.... The eyes of my heart or understanding, as Kimchi; or, "reveal mine eyes" (t); take off the veil from them: there is a veil of darkness and ignorance on the hearts of all men, with respect to divine and spiritual things; their understandings are darkened, yea, darkness itself.”
I am a stranger on the earth: A stranger on the earth, ger in Hebrew, is a resident alien with no land of his own. Albert Barnes pictured a stranger keeping contact with home, and read the plea as asking that the commandments stay before him in a foreign land. The commandments are his map.
Psalms 119:19
“I am a stranger in the earth - A wayfaring man; a pilgrim; a so-journer; a man whose permanent home is not in this world. The word is applicable to one who belongs to another country, and who is now merely passing through a foreign land, or sojourning there for a time. Compare the notes at Heb 11:13. The home of the child of God is heaven. Here he is in a strange - a foreign - land. He is to abide here but for a little time, and then to pass on to his eternal habitation.”
My soul is consumed with longing: Consumed translates garas, to be crushed, the soul ground down by the strength of its own desire. The desire is for God's judgments, the same rulings verse 21 sees falling on the arrogant. It never lets up.
Psalms 119:20
“ONE of the best tests of a man's character will be found in his deepest and heartiest longings. You cannot always judge a man by what he is doing at any one time, for he may be under constraints which compel him to act contrary to his true self, or he may be under an impulse from which he will soon be free. He may, for a while, back off from that which is evil and yet he may be radically bad.”
You rebuke the arrogant—: The arrogant enter the psalm here under God's rebuke, and they return against him in verses 51, 69, 78 and 85. John Gill noted that some read the arrogant as the fallen angels, rebuked for their pride. The cursed are those who stray from the commandments.
Psalms 119:21
Transgressors of the commandments merit eternal punishments. The Psalm: "Cursed are they who decline from Thy commandments": cursed, because it shall be said to them: "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."
Bonaventure · written before 1257 · Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:21
“Thou hast rebuked the proud,.... Which some understand of the fallen angels, who, in proud wrath, left their habitations, because they would not be subject to the Son of God in human nature; wherefore he scattered them in the imaginations of their hearts, and cast down these mighty ones into hell, where they are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day.”
Remove my scorn and contempt: Remove translates a verb for rolling something off, the root that names Gilgal at Joshua 5:9, where a reproach was rolled away. The scorn sits on him like a weight. His plea rests on the testimonies he has kept.
Psalms 119:22
"O turn from me shame and rebuke; for I have sought out Thy testimonies" (ver. 22). Testimonies are called in Greek μαρτύρια, which word we now use for the Latin word: whence those who on account of their testimony to Christ have been brought low by various sufferings, and have contended unto death for the truth, are not called testes, but by the Greek term Martyrs.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Though rulers sit and slander me: The rulers sit as a council sits, in session, and slander is their business. John Gill named such rulers from David's life: the princes at Saul's court, Absalom with Ahithophel, and the Philistine lords. The servant answers with the statutes.
Your testimonies are indeed my delight: Delight is the noun from the root of verse 16, the word Adam Clarke read as skipping for joy. The Hebrew for counselors reads men of his counsel. The same testimonies give him joy and give him direction.
Dalet
In the pictographic reading this letter represents a door and what one enters by.
Verses 25 to 32
Prays for reviving when the soul lies in the dust, and chooses the way of truth.
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Psalms 119:25-32
My soul cleaves to the dust: He begins on the floor, his soul clinging to the dust, and asks to be revived according to the word. By the end he is choosing and moving: the way of truth chosen, the path of the commandments run. Verse 32 has God enlarging the heart he runs with.
I recounted my ways: Recounted means he laid his ways open before God in full, and the LORD answered. The request of verse 12 follows, teach me Your statutes. Confession clears room for teaching.
Psalms 119:26
“For what he was by himself, he confesseth in the following words: "I have acknowledged my ways, and Thou heardest me" (ver. 26). Some copies indeed read, "Thy ways:" but more, and the best Greek, read "my ways," that is, evil ways. For he seemeth to me to say this; I have confessed my sins, and Thou hast heard me; that is, so that Thou wouldest remit them. "O teach me Thy statutes." I have acknowledged my ways: Thou hast blotted them out: teach me Thine.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Make clear to me the way of Your precepts: Wonders translates niphlaot, the word behind the wondrous things of verse 18. Understanding comes first, and meditation follows on what has been made clear. The wonders are found in the precepts once they are grasped.
Psalms 119:27
"Make me to understand the way of thy precepts." Give me a deep insight into the practical meaning of thy word; let me get a clear idea of the tone and tenor of thy law. Blind obedience has but small beauty; God would have us follow him with our eyes open. To obey the letter of the word is all that the ignorant can hope for; if we wish to keep God's precepts in their spirit we must come to an understanding of them, and that can be gained nowhere but at the Lord's hands.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:27
“Finally he adds, "Intimate to me the way of Your righteousness" [Psalm 119:27]; or, as some copies have it, "instruct me;" which is expressed more closely from the Greek, "Make me to understand the way of Your righteousnesses; so shall I be exercised in Your wondrous things." These higher commandments, which he desires to understand by edification, he calls the wondrous things of God. There are then some righteousnesses of God so wondrous, that human weakness may be believed incapable of fulfilling them by those who have not tried.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:27
“Make me to understand ... - See the notes at Psa 119:18. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works - The things in thy works - thy providential dealings - that are wondrous. That is, with a heart full of the subject, he could not but speak of those things - for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” See the notes at Psa 39:2-4.”
My soul melts with sorrow: Albert Barnes took melts from dalaph, a verb for rain dripping through a roof, and read it as a slow, steady weeping. The grief wears the soul away drop by drop. Strength is asked for according to the word.
Psalms 119:28
“My soul melteth - Margin, “droppeth.” The Hebrew word here employed - דלף dâlaph - means to drop, to drip, to distil, spoken of a house, as when the rain drops through the roof, Ecc 10:18; then, to shed tears, to weep, Job 16:20 - and this seems to be the meaning here. The idea of melting is not properly in the word, and the term weep would better express the meaning. His soul seemed to drop tears. It overflowed with tears. Yet there is an idea of abundant or constant weeping.”
Remove me from the path of deceit: The law is asked for as a favour, graciously granted, with the verb used for God's free grace. The prayer asks first for removal and then for a gift. Both belong to God's hand.
I have chosen the way of truth: The way of truth answers the path of deceit in verse 29, and here it is chosen. Truth translates emunah, faithfulness, the steady reliability of a word that holds. The ordinances are set before his eyes as a guide.
Psalms 119:30
He who loves truth, and never utters a false word with his mouth, may say, "I have chosen the way of truth." Moreover, he who always sets the judgments of God before his eyes, and remembers them in every action, will say, "Thy judgments have I not forgotten." And how is our heart enlarged by trials and afflictions! For these pluck out the thorns of anxious thoughts within us, and enlarge the heart for the reception of the divine laws. For, says he, "in affliction Thou hast enlarged me."
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm CXIX. 30-32.patristic
I cling to Your testimonies: Charles Spurgeon noted that cling is the verb of verse 25, where the soul cleaved to the dust. The same man who lay stuck to the dust is now stuck fast to the testimonies. Grief and loyalty share one word.
Psalms 119:31
I have stuck unto thy testimonies, —or I have cleaved, for the word is the same as in Psa 119:25. Though cleaving to the dust of sorrow and of death, yet he kept fast hold of the divine word. This was his comfort, and his faith stuck to it, his love and his obedience held on to it, his heart and his mind abode in meditation upon it.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
I run in the path of Your commandments: Matthew Henry read the enlarged heart as wisdom, the gift given Solomon at 1 Kings 4:29. On that reading God widens the understanding, and the feet follow. Running is walking made eager.
Psalms 119:32
“We then run the way of our duty, when we are ready to it, and pleasant in it, and lay aside every weight, Heb. xii. His dependence upon God for grace to do so: "I shall then abound in thy work, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. " God, by his Spirit, enlarges the hearts of his people when he gives them wisdom (for that is called largeness of heart, 1 Kings iv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
He
In the pictographic reading this letter represents what is shown and what is called out.
Verses 33 to 40
A run of requests that God teach, give understanding, direct, and turn the heart from gain.
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Psalms 119:33-40
Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes: Every verse here is a request put to God: teach, give understanding, direct, turn, establish, revive. The asking runs both ways, toward the commandments and away from covetous gain and worthless things. The verbs are all God's to do.
Psalms 119:33
“ה, HE.--The Fifth Part. HE. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes,.... Which they point unto, and direct to walk in; not only the statutes and ordinances themselves, the theory of them, but the practice of them.”
Give me understanding that I may obey Your law: Understanding is asked for with a purpose attached, keeping the law. Verse 33 asked for teaching, and this verse asks for the grasp that makes teaching hold. The whole heart follows what the mind has grasped.
Psalms 119:34
"Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law." This is the same prayer enlarged, or rather it is a supplement which intensifies it. He not only needs teaching, but the power to learn: he requires not only to understand, but to obtain an understanding. How low has sin brought us; for we even lack the faculty to understand spiritual things, and are quite unable to know them till we are endowed with spiritual discernment. Will God in very deed give us understanding? This is a miracle of grace.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:34
"Give me understanding, and I shall search Thy law, yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart" (ver. 34). For when each man hath searched the law, and searched its deep things, in which its whole meaning doth consist; he ought indeed to love God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind; and his neighbour as himself. "For on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." This he seemeth to have promised, when he said, "Yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:34
“Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law - Give me right views of it, of its nature and obligation. It is not a prayer that God would give him the faculty of understanding or intelligence; but that he would enable him to take just views of the law. The word is the same as in Psa 119:27, rendered there, “Make me to understand.” Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart - See Psa 119:2. I will keep it with undivided affections; I will make it the sole guide of my life.”
Psalms 119:34
“With my whole heart - I will not trifle with my God, I will not divide my affections with the world; God shall have all.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Direct me in the path of Your commandments: He already delights in the commandments and still asks to be directed into them. Desire and the power to walk are two gifts, and he asks for the second. Path translates a word for a trodden track.
Psalms 119:35
"Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight." "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which good I find not." Thou hast made me to love the way, now make me to move in it. It is a plain path, which others are treading through thy grace; I see it and admire it; cause me to travel in it.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:35
“But since he hath no power to do even this, save he be aided by Him who commandeth him to do what He commandeth, "Make me," he addeth, "to go in the path of Thy commandments, for therein is my desire" (ver. 35). My desire is powerless, unless Thou Thyself makest me to go where I desire. And this is surely the very path, that is, the path of God's commandments, which he had already said that he had run, when his heart was enlarged by the Lord.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:35
“Make me to go in the path ... - That is, Incline me to it; so direct me that I shall thus walk. It is an acknowledgment of his dependence on God, that he might be able to carry out the cherished purposes of his soul. For therein do I delight - See Psa 119:16. I am conscious of having pleasure in thy commandments; of having a strong desire to keep them, and I pray for grace that I may be able to do it.”
Turn my heart to Your testimonies: The heart leans toward one of two things, and he asks God to tilt it. Covetous gain translates betsa, profit cut off for oneself, often by fraud. The testimonies and money compete for one heart.
Psalms 119:36
“Therefore, as I am about to speak of what is useful, I will take up those words of the prophet: "Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to covetousness," that the sound of the word useful may not rouse in us the desire for money. Some indeed put it thus: "Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to what is useful," that is, that kind of usefulness that is always on the watch for making gains in business and has been bent and diverted by the habits of people to the pursuit of money.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Duties of the Clergy 2.6.26patristic
Turn my eyes away from worthless things: Verse 36 turned the heart, and verse 37 turns the eyes, the gate desire comes through. Worthless things translates shav, the emptiness named in the third commandment at Exodus 20:7. Revival comes through the word.
Psalms 119:37
Therefore David, who had experienced those very glances that are dangerous for a man, aptly says that the one is blessed whose every hope is in the name of God. For such a person does not have regard to worthless things and follies if he always strives toward Christ and always looks on Christ with his inner eyes. For this reason David turned to God again and said, "Turn away my eyes, that they may not see vanity."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Flight from the World 1:4patristic
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Psalms 119:37
“I THINK you will find the prayer for quickening repeated nine times in this Psalm. The form of it differs but it is always the same vehement cry, "Quicken me, O Lord." In addition to this you will hear David twice acknowledge that God had quickened him, saying on one occasion, "Your Word has quickened me," and in another place, "Your precepts have quickened me," so that 11 times in one Psalm David turns his contemplations to the subject of quickening. This shows us the very great importance which he attached to it.”
Establish Your word to Your servant: Word here is imrah, the spoken promise, and establish means to make it stand by doing it. A promise kept leads to reverence for the God who kept it. Fulfilment teaches fear.
Psalms 119:38
"Stablish thy word unto thy servant." Make me sure of thy sure word: make it sure to me and make me sure of it. If we possess the spirit of service, and yet are troubled with sceptical thoughts we cannot do better than pray to be established in the truth. Times will arise when every doctrine and promise seems to be shaken, and our mind gets no rest: then we must appeal to God for establishment in the faith, for he would have all his servants to be well instructed and confirmed in his word.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:38
"O establish Your word in Your servant, that I may fear You" [Psalm 119:38]. And what else is this than, Grant unto me that I may do according to what You say? For the word of God is not established in those who remove it in themselves by acting contrary to it; but it is established in those in whom it is immoveable.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:38
“Stablish thy word unto thy servant - Confirm it; make it seem firm and true; let not my mind be vacillating or skeptical in regard to thy truth. This seems to be a prayer against the influence of doubt and scepticism; a prayer that doubts might not be suffered to spring up in his mind, and that the objections and difficulties of scepticism might have no place there. There is a class of people whose minds are naturally skeptical and unbelieving, and for such people such a prayer is especially appropriate.”
Psalms 119:38
“Stablish thy word - Fulfil the promises thou hast made to me.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Turn away the disgrace I dread: Charles Spurgeon paired this plea with verse 31, where the same man asked to be kept from shame. The Hebrew verb is the one used for turning his eyes away in verse 37, now aimed at disgrace. The goodness of God's judgments steadies his dread.
Psalms 119:39
"Turn away my reproach which I fear." He feared just reproach, trembling lest he should cause the enemy to blaspheme through any glaring inconsistency. We ought to fear this, and watch that we may avoid it. Persecution in the form of calumny may also be prayed against, for it is a sore trial, perhaps the sorest of trials to men of sensitive minds. Many would sooner bear burning at the stake than the trial of cruel mockings.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:39
"Take away my reproach which I have suspected, for Thy judgments are sweet" (ver. 39). Who is he who suspected his own reproach, and who doth not know his own reproach better than that of his neighbour? For a man may rather suspect another's than his own; since he knoweth not that which he suspecteth; but in each one's own reproach there is not suspicion for him, but knowledge, wherein conscience speaketh. What then mean the words, "the rebuke which I have suspected"?
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:39
“Turn away my reproach - The reproach which is likely to come upon me from being a professed worshipper of God. In all ages good men have been exposed to this reproach. Which I fear - Which I have reason to apprehend will come upon me. This may not mean that he was personally afraid of it, but merely that he had reason to apprehend that he was exposed to it. The prayer is proper, for there is nothing which our nature makes us shrink back from more than reproach.”
Psalms 119:39
“Turn away my reproach, which I fear - This may be understood of the reproach which a man may meet with in consequence of living a godly life, for such a life was never fashionable in any time or country. But I have found the following note on the passage: “I have done a secret evil; my soul is sorry for it: if it become public, it will be a heavy reproach to me. O God, turn it away, and let it never meet the eye of man!” - Anon.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How I long for Your precepts!: He asks to be revived in God's righteousness, and John Gill read that as the righteousness revealed in the Gospel, which gives life. The longing is his, and the reviving is asked of God.
Psalms 119:40
“Behold, I have longed after thy precepts,.... After a greater degree of knowledge of them, and an opportunity of hearing them explained and enforced, and of yielding obedience to them; see Psa 119:7; quicken me in thy righteousness: in the way of righteousness, according to the word of righteousness, the Gospel, and with the righteousness of Christ revealed in it; and which is unto life, and quickens and comforts the heart, and from whence abundance of peace and joy flows.”
Waw
In the pictographic reading this letter represents joining and what fastens one thing to another.
Verses 41 to 48
Asks for salvation so he can answer a taunt and speak of the testimonies before kings.
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Psalms 119:41-48
May Your loving devotion come to me: Mercy comes first here, the loving devotion and the salvation asked for before any promise to obey. Then the word is for speaking: an answer to the man who taunts, and testimonies spoken before kings without shame. Verse 48 lifts the hands to the commandments.
Psalms 119:41
"And let Thy loving mercy come also unto us, O Lord" (ver. 41). This sentence seems annexed to the foregoing: for he doth not say, Let it come unto me, but, "And let it come unto me."...What then doth he here pray for, save that through His loving mercy who commanded, he may perform the commandments which he hath coveted? For he explaineth in some degree what he meant by adding, "even Thy salvation, according to Thy word:" that is, according to Thy promise.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
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Psalms 119:41
“Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord - This commences a new portion of the psalm, in which each verse begins with the letter Vau (ו v, or “v”). There are almost no words in Hebrew that begin with this letter, which is properly a conjunction, and hence, in each of the verses in this section of the psalm Psa 119:41-48 the beginning of the verse is in the original a conjunction - .ו This does not here indicate a connection, as with us the conjunction “and” would naturally do; but is a mere artificial arrangement in order…”
Psalms 119:41
“In these verses holy fear is apparent and prominent. The man of God trembles lest in any way or degree the Lord should remove his favour from him. The eight verses are one continued pleading for the abiding of grace in his soul, and it is supported by such holy arguments as would only suggest themselves to a spirit burning with love to God. "Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD" He desires mercy as well as teaching, for he was guilty as well as ignorant.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:41
“Let thy mercies come - Let me speedily see the accomplishment of all my prayers! Let me have thy salvation - such a deliverance as it becomes thy greatness and goodness to impart. Let it be according to thy word - thy exceeding great and precious promises.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:41
“The sentiment more fully carried out. God's mercies and salvation, as revealed in His Word, provide hope of forgiveness for the past and security in a righteous course for the future.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Then I can answer him who taunts: Then ties the answer to verse 41: once the promised salvation arrives, the taunt has a reply. The mocker calls the trust empty, and the kept word answers him. Deliverance is the argument.
Psalms 119:42
"And so shall I make answer," he says, "to them that reproach me with the word" [Psalm 119:42]. It is doubtful whether it be "reproach me with a word;" or, "I will answer with a word;" but either signifies Christ. They to whom Christ crucified is a stumbling-block or foolishness, [1 Corinthians 1:23] reproach us with Him; ignorant that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us;" [John 1:14] the Word which "was in the beginning," and "was with God, and was God."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Never take Your word of truth from my mouth: He asks to keep God's word of truth in his mouth, the thing he needs for the answer of verse 42. John Gill tied the phrase to the Scripture of truth named in Daniel 10. His speaking rests on hope.
I will always obey Your law: Three words for time are stacked in one line: always, forever and ever. The promise reaches past any single trial and past this life. Obedience here is meant to last.
Psalms 119:44
"So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever." Nothing more effectually binds a man to the way of the Lord than an experience of the truth of his word, embodied in the form of mercies and deliverances. Not only does the Lord's faithfulness open our mouths against his adversaries, but it also knits our hearts to his fear, and makes our union with him more and more intense. Great mercies lead us to feel an inexpressible gratitude which, falling to utter itself in time, promises to engross eternity with praises.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:44
"So shall I always keep Your law" [Psalm 119:44]: that is, if You will not take the word of Your truth out of my mouth. "Yea, unto age, and age of age:" he shows what he meant by "alway." For sometimes by "alway" is meant, as long as we live here; but this is not, "unto age, and age of age." For it is better thus translated than as some copies have, "to eternity, and to age of age," since they could not say, and to eternity of eternity.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:44
“So shall I keep thy law continually forever and ever - At all times and in all places; in this world and the world to come. This indicates a purpose to do it, and an assurance that he would do it, if God should enable him to retain even the slightest hold on the truth.”
I will walk in freedom: Freedom translates a Hebrew word for a broad place, and Albert Barnes read the liberty as release from the inward slavery of sin and appetite. Seeking the precepts is the road into that space. Law and freedom meet here.
Psalms 119:45
“And I will walk at liberty - Margin, “at large.” Luther renders it, “freely.” The Septuagint, “in a broad place.” The Hebrew word means “wide, broad, large, spacious.” The reference is to that which is free and open; that in which there are no limits, checks, restraints; where a man does what he pleases. The meaning here is, that he would feel he was free. He would not be restrained by evil passions and corrupt desires. He would be delivered from those things which seemed to fetter his goings.”
I will speak of Your testimonies before kings: The rulers who sat and slandered him in verse 23 become an audience here. Shame, feared in verses 6 and 31, is ruled out ahead of time. The testimonies go where the slander came from.
Psalms 119:46
"I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed." This is part of his liberty; he is free from fear of the greatest, proudest, and most tyrannical of men. David was called to stand before kings when he was an exile; and afterwards, when he was himself a monarch, he knew the tendency of men to sacrifice their religion to pomp and statecraft; but it was his resolve to do nothing of the kind. He would sanctify politics, and make cabinets know that the Lord alone is governor among the nations.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:46
"I spoke of Your testimonies also," he says, "before kings, and I was not ashamed" [Psalm 119:46]: as one who had sought and had received grace to answer those who reproached him with the word, and the promise that the word of truth should not be taken from his mouth. Struggling for this truth even unto death, not even before kings was he ashamed to speak of it. For testimonies, whereof he does avow that he was speaking, are in Greek styled μαρτύρια, a word which we now employ instead of the Latin.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:46
“I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings ... - In the presence of men of most elevated rank. I will not be ashamed to avow my belief in thy word before those in power - whether friendly or unfriendly to thee and to thy cause. I will not disguise my belief in thy truth with any desire to secure their favor; I will not be intimidated from expressing my faith by any dread of their frowns. Compare Mat 10:18-19; Act 4:19; Act 5:29; Act 26:2.”
Psalms 119:46
“I will speak - before kings - Dr. Delaney supposes that this is spoken in reference to Achish, king of Gath, whom David had instructed in the Jewish religion; but we have already seen that it is most likely that the Psalm was compiled under the Babylonish captivity. But the words may with more propriety be referred to the case of Daniel, and other bold and faithful Israelites, who spoke courageously before Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius. See the books of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I delight in Your commandments: Love for the commandments is named here for the first time in the psalm. The delight is the verb of verse 16, and love is given as its cause. Duty has become affection.
Psalms 119:47
"And I meditated," he saith, "on Thy commandments, which I have loved" (ver. 47). "My hands also have I lifted up unto Thy commandments, which I have loved" (ver. 48); or, as some copies read, "which I have loved exceedingly," or "too much," or "vehemently," as they have chosen to render the Greek word σφόδρα. He then loved the commandments of God because he walked at liberty; that is, through the Holy Spirit, through whom love itself is shed abroad, and enlargeth the hearts of the faithful. But he loved, both in thought and in acts.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
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Psalms 119:47
"And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. Next to liberty and courage comes delight. When we have done our duty, we find a great reward in it. If David had not spoken for his Master before kings, he would have been afraid to think of the law which he had neglected; but after speaking up for his Lord he feels a sweet serenity of heart when musing upon the word. Obey the command, and you will love it; carry the yoke, and it will be easy, and rest will come by it.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:47
“And I will delight myself in thy commandments,.... In perusing and practising them; which I have loved; a good man loves the law of God, and the commandments of Christ, and delights in them after the inward man.”
Psalms 119:47
“And I will delight myself ... - See the notes at Psa 119:16.”
I lift up my hands to Your commandments: Lifted hands are the posture of prayer at Psalm 28:2, and here the same gesture reaches toward the commandments. The hands go where the love has already gone. Meditation on the statutes keeps the love fed.
Psalms 119:48
"My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved." He will stretch out towards perfection as far as he can, hoping to reach it one day; when his hands hang down he will cheer himself out of languor by the prospect of glorifying God by obedience; and he will give solemn sign of his hearty assent and consent to all that his God commands. The phrase "lift up my hands" is very full of meaning, and doubtless the sweet singer meant all that we can see in it, and a great deal more.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:48
“My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments ... - As an expression of delight or rejoicing, as people lift up their hands with their voice when they give expression to joy. It denotes a high statue of joy, such as leads to an outward expression; not merely that which exists in calm contemplation, but where the heart is full, and when it finds outward expression. And I will meditate in thy statutes - See the notes at Psa 1:2.”
Psalms 119:48
“My hands also will I lift up - I will present every victim and sacrifice which the law requires. I will make prayer and supplication before thee, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zayin
In the pictographic reading this letter represents cutting and what defends.
Verses 49 to 56
Remembers the word in affliction, and calls the statutes his songs while away from home.
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Psalms 119:49-56
Remember Your word to Your servant: The asking starts with God's own memory, that He remember the word He gave. The comfort named is that the promise gave him life, and the statutes in verse 54 are songs in the house of his pilgrimage. In the night he remembers the name of the LORD.
Psalms 119:49
“Resting on the promises consoles under affliction and the tauntings of the insolent. upon which--rather, "Remember Thy word unto Thy servant, because," &c. So the Hebrew requires [HENGSTENBERG].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:49
“THE 119th Psalm is a very wonderful composition. Its expressions are many as the waves, but its testimony is one as the sea. It deals all along with the same subject and it consists, as you observe, of a vast number of verses, some of which are very similar to others. And yet throughout the 176 stanzas, the same thought is not repeated—there is always a shade of difference even when the color of the thought appears to be the same.”
This is my comfort in affliction: Affliction enters the psalm by name here, and it returns in verses 67, 71, 75 and 92. The life the promise gave is in the past tense, an experience already had. That memory feeds the hope of verse 49.
Psalms 119:50
“We are instructed in all this, but the prophet has already experienced it. He says, "This hope has consoled me in my humility, for your word has given me life." The hope is the hope that God has implanted in him. It has consoled him "in his humility," that is, when he is spurned, mocked, vexed by injustices, dishonored by insults, for he knows that he is soldiering through his present trials. But the hope instilled by the Lord consoles him in these wars endured in his weakness, and he is lent life by the utterances of God.”
Hilary of Poitiers · written before 367 · Homily on Psalm 118patristic
The arrogant utterly deride me: Charles Spurgeon traced a rising attack from this verse through verses 61 and 69, derision first and lies last. Mockery is the first weapon. He holds to the law under it.
Psalms 119:51
"The proud have had me greatly in derision." Proud men never love gracious men, and as they fear them they veil their fear under a pretended contempt. In this case their hatred revealed itself in ridicule, and that ridicule was loud and long. When they wanted sport they made sport of David because he was God's servant. Men must have strange eyes to be able to see a farce in faith, and a comedy in holiness; yet it is sadly the case that men who are short of wit can generally provoke a broad grin by jesting at a saint.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:51
“The next verse is, "The proud dealt exceeding wickedly: yet have I not shrinked from Your law" [Psalm 119:51]. By the proud he wished to be understood the persecutors of the pious; and he therefore added, "yet have I not shrinked from Your laws," because the persecution of the proud attempted to force him to do this. He says that they dealt "exceeding wickedly," because they were not only wicked themselves, but even tried to make the godly wicked.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:51
“The proud have had me greatly in derision - Those of rank; those in high life: perhaps, as we should say, the frivolous and fashionable world. They have ridiculed me; they have held me up to contempt for my scruples, my seriousness, my conscientiousness, my unwillingness to mingle with them in the pursuits, the pastimes, the frivolities of life.”
Psalms 119:51
“The proud have had me - We have been treated, not only with oppressive cruelty, but also with contempt, because we still professed to trust in thee, the living God, who because of our transgressions hadst been greatly displeased with us; jet we have not declined from thy law.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I remember Your judgments of old: Verse 49 asked God to remember, and here the man does the remembering. The judgments of old are God's past rulings in history, and their record steadies him now. Old judgments give present comfort.
Rage has taken hold of me: Albert Barnes read the Hebrew for rage as burning heat, the desert wind, and the feeling as horror at the danger the wicked stand in. Verse 136 carries the same grief as tears over the law. Those who reject the law set him burning.
Psalms 119:53
“Horror hath taken hold upon me - Has seized me; has overpowered and overwhelmed me. I shudder; I tremble; I am afraid; I am filled with distress. Luther, “I am burnt up.” The Hebrew word - זלעפה zal‛âphâh - is from a verb meaning “to be hot; to glow”; and the idea in the word is that of violent heat; then, a glow or burning, as of a wind - the “simoom” of the desert. See Psa 11:6, where the word is translated “horrible tempest,” in the margin, “burning.””
Your statutes are songs to me: Statutes, chuqqim, come from a verb for engraving, fixed decrees cut into stone. He sets these legal texts to music. The house of his pilgrimage is the lodging of the stranger in verse 19.
Psalms 119:54
“THE 119th Psalm is said, by many, to consist of detached sentences and to be rather a casket of gold rings than a chain of united golden links, yet the position of this verse is somewhat remarkable, for the verse before it runs thus— "Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Your Law." Most of you know for yourselves what that sentence means, for if you hear a man swear in the streets, your blood runs chill with horror.”
In the night, O LORD, I remember Your name: Remembering at night serves keeping by day, and the verse ties the two with a purpose clause. The name stands for all God has revealed of Himself, as when He proclaimed it at Exodus 34:5-7. Night thought shapes day conduct.
Psalms 119:55
"I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night." When others slept I woke to think of thee, thy person, thy actions, thy covenant, thy name, under which last term he comprehends the divine character as far as it is revealed. He was so earnest after the living God that he woke up at dead of night to think upon him. These were David's Night Thoughts. If they were not Sunny Memories they were memories of the Sun of Righteousness.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:55
"I have thought upon Thy Name, O Lord, in the night-season, and have kept Thy law" (ver. 55). Night is that low estate wherein is the trouble of mortality; night is in the proud who deal exceeding wickedly; night is the fear for the ungodly who forsake the law of the Lord; night is, lastly, the house of this pilgrimage, "until the Lord come, and bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:55
“I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night ... - I have thought on thee in the night, when on my bed; I have done it in the night of calamity and sorrow. See the notes at Psa 63:6.”
Psalms 119:55
“I have remembered thy name - Thou art Jehovah; and as our God thou hast made thyself known unto us. In the deepest night of our affliction this has consoled me.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
This is my practice: The Hebrew says only that this has been his, and translators differ over what this refers to. The Berean takes it as a settled practice of obeying the precepts, and the King James reads it as a blessing received. Either way the precepts stand at its root.
Psalms 119:56
"This I had, because I kept thy precepts." He had this comfort, this remembrance of God, this power to sing, this courage to face the enemy, this hope in the promise, because he had earnestly observed the commands of God, and striven to walk in them. We are not rewarded for our works, but there is a reward in them. Many a comfort is obtainable only by careful living: we can surely say of such consolations, "This I had because I kept thy precepts." How can we defy ridicule if we are living inconsistently?
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:56
“This I had, because I kept thy precepts.”
Psalms 119:56
“Considering this, he addeth, "This was made unto me, because I sought out Thy righteousnesses" (ver. 56). "Thy" righteousnesses, whereby Thou dost justify the ungodly; not mine, which never make me godly, but proud. For this man was not one of those who, "ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Others have better interpreted these righteousnesses, as those whereby men are justified for nought through God's grace, though by themselves they cannot be righteous, "justifications." But what meaneth, "This was made unto me"? What is "This"?”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:56
“This I had, because I kept thy precepts - Though thou didst leave us under the power of our enemies, yet thou hast not left us without the consolations of thy Spirit.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:56
“This I had, because I kept thy precepts - literally, “This was to me;” that is, This has happened to me; this has occurred. This joyful remembrance of thy law in the night of affliction Psa 119:50; this stability and firmness on my part in keeping thy law when proud men have derided me Psa 119:51; this comfort which I have derived from meditating on thy statutes Psa 119:52; this solicitude for the welfare of others Psa 119:53; this peace which I have enjoyed in thy law in the house of my pilgrimage Psa 119:54; and this consolation which I…”
Het
In the pictographic reading this letter represents an enclosure and what it keeps in.
Verses 57 to 64
Names the LORD his portion, tells of turning his steps, and of rising at midnight to give thanks.
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Psalms 119:57-64
The LORD is my portion: Portion is priestly language: at Numbers 18:20 the LORD tells Aaron that He Himself is Aaron's portion and inheritance. Here an ordinary worshiper claims it. He turns his steps at once, hurrying without hesitating, and rises at midnight to give thanks.
Psalms 119:57
The possession of God is owed to such as these, as Isaiah says: "This is the inheritance of those who believe in the Lord." Very aptly does he say, "This is the inheritance," for that alone is the inheritance; there is no other. The inheritance is not a treasure that people stumble on blindly, and passing things have not the quality of an inheritance. The only inheritance is that in which God is the portion, as the Lord's holy one says: "God is my inheritance," and again: "I have become an heir of your precepts."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letter 82patristic
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Psalms 119:57
“ח, CHETH.--The Eighth Part. CHETH. Thou art my portion, O Lord,.... Which he chose and preferred to all others; to the riches, honours, and profits of this world; the grant of which was made to him in the covenant of grace; the first discovery of it was from the Lord himself; and the choice and claim were made under the influence of his grace; and a great act of faith it is to assert this, and a wonderful blessing to enjoy it.”
I have sought Your face with all my heart: Charles Spurgeon noted that the Hebrew reads Your face, the presence that is God's highest favour. The man who has just called the LORD his portion still begs to see Him. He asks for grace no larger than the promise.
Psalms 119:58
"I intreated thy favour with my whole heart." A fully assured possession of God does not set aside prayer, but rather urges us to it; he who knows God to be his God will seek his face, longing for his presence. Seeking God's presence is the idea conveyed by the marginal reading, "thy face, "and this is true to the Hebrew. The presence of God is the highest form of his favour, and therefore it is the most urgent desire of gracious souls: the light of his countenance gives us an antepast of heaven. O that we always enjoyed it!
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
I considered my ways: Charles Spurgeon saw a conversion in small: first the man considered his ways, then he turned his steps, as the prodigal came to himself. John Gill noted that the Septuagint reads Your ways, and took the psalmist to consider both. Considering comes before turning.
Psalms 119:59
"I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." While studying the word he was led to study his own life, and this caused a mighty revolution. He came to the word, and then he came to himself, and this made him arise and go to his Father. Consideration is the commencement of conversion: first we think and then we turn. When the mind repents of ill ways the feet are soon led into good ways; but there will be no repenting until there is deep, earnest thought.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:59
“I thought on my ways,.... What they were, whether right or wrong; whither they led, what would be the consequences of walking in them: the Septuagint and Arabic versions read, "thy ways"; no doubt the psalmist thought of both; of his own ways, in which he had walked; and of God's ways, which he directed him to walk in: and, considering the superior pleasure and profit of the latter, he preferred them to the former. The Targum is, "I thought to mend my ways", or "make them good".”
Psalms 119:59
So the prodigal son, when reduced to straits of misery (Lu 15:17, 18). This the more, if opposition of enemies, or love of ease is overcome in thus honoring God's law. have robbed me--better, surrounded me, either as forcible constraints like fetters, or as the cords of their nets. HENGSTENBERG translates, "snares."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I hurried without hesitating: John Gill read the verse as obedience that consulted no flesh and blood, and set beside it the three thousand converts of Acts 2:41. Hurried and without hesitating say the one thing twice. The speed is part of the keeping of the commandments.
Psalms 119:60
“I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. As soon as he was sensible of his duty, he immediately complied with it; he consulted not with flesh and blood, but at once yielded a cheerful obedience to the commands of God. Instances of evangelical obedience of this kind we have in the three thousand converts, in Saul, and in the jailer and his house, Act 2:41.”
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Psalms 119:60
“Let each of these considerations find entrance into your mind and check the swollen growth of wrath. By such preparations and by acquiring such dispositions, we quiet the leaping and throbbing of the heart and restore it to tranquil steadiness. This, indeed, is the implication in the words of David: "I am ready and am not troubled." You must, therefore, repress the violent and frenzied movement of the soul by recalling the example of saintly people. How gently, for instance, the mighty David bore the fury of Shimei.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Homily Against Those Prove to Angerpatristic
Though the ropes of the wicked bind me: The Hebrew for ropes can also mean bands of men, and the King James reads the line as plunder by those bands. John Gill found the plunder in David's life, at Ziklag and in Absalom's revolt. The Berean hears cords that bind.
Psalms 119:61
“The bands of the wicked have robbed me,.... Very probably Saul and his ministers seized on his effects, when he fled from him; and the Amalekites plundered him of all his substance, when they took Ziklag; and Absalom and the conspirators with him robbed him, when he was obliged, because of them, to flee from his palace and court, which they entered and took possession of.”
At midnight I rise to give You thanks: The thanks at midnight are given for righteous judgments, the rulings that bring comfort in verse 52. The hour is the one sleep claims, given up freely. Paul and Silas kept that hour in prison at Acts 16:25.
Psalms 119:62
In petition one asks for mercy for one's sins, in thanksgiving you give thanks to your Father who is in heaven, while in praise you praise him for his works. At a time when you are in trouble, offer up petition, and when you are well supplied with good things, you should give thanks to the Giver, and when your mind rejoices, offer up praise. Make all these prayers of yours with discernment to God. See how David was always saying, "I have risen to give thanks to you for your judgments, O just One."
Aphrahat the Persian Sage · written before 345 · DEMONSTRATIONS 4:17patristic
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Psalms 119:62
“At midnight--HENGSTENBERG supposes a reference to the time when the Lord went forth to slay the Egyptian first-born (Ex 11:4; 12:29; compare Job 34:20). But it rather refers to the Psalmist's own praises and prayers in the night time.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I am a friend to all who fear You: Friend translates chaver, a word for one joined to another as a companion. He belongs with all who fear God. John Gill read verse 79 against this one, where he asks those who fear God to turn back to him, a sign some had drifted.
Psalms 119:63
“I am a companion of all them that fear thee - I find my associates and friends among those who worship thee; not with the profane and the wicked. “A man is known by the company that he keeps;” and it is an evidence of piety when we seek our companions and friends among the pious. It shows where the heart is; what the preferences are; what are the tastes; what is the real condition of the soul.”
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Psalms 119:63
For I imagine that what followeth, "I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and keep Thy commandments" (ver. 63), doth relate to the Head Himself, as it is in the Epistle which is inscribed to the Hebrews: "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:63
“I am a companion of all them that fear thee,.... Not of the rich and mighty, much less of the wicked and ungodly; but of such who had the true fear of God upon their hearts, and before their eyes; who feared the Lord and his goodness, and truly served and worshipped him; even "all" of these, whether poor or rich, of whatsoever condition, or of whatsoever nation, being no respecter of persons.”
Psalms 119:63
"I am a companion of all them that fear thee." The last verse said, "I will," and this says, "I am." We can hardly hope to be right in the future unless we are right now. The holy man spent his nights with God and his days with God's people. Those who fear God love those who fear him, and they make small choice in their company so long as the men are truly God fearing. David was a king, and yet he consorted with "all" who feared the Lord, whether they were obscure or famous, poor or rich.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:63
“I am a companion - This was the natural consequence of his own conversion; he abandoned the workers of iniquity, and associated with them that feared the Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The earth is filled with Your loving devotion: The stanza that opened on the LORD as a private portion closes on the whole earth full of His loving devotion. John Gill read that fulness as the care given every creature and the special grace given His people, beside Psalm 33:5. Teaching is asked as one more mercy.
Psalms 119:64
“The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy,.... "Goodness" or "grace" (o); both of the providential mercy and goodness of God, which extends to all his creatures; and of his special grace and goodness to his own people, held forth in his word and ordinances; see Psa 33:5; teach me thy statutes: as an instance of mercy, grace, and goodness; see Psa 119:12. (o) חסדך "gratia tua", Cocceius, Gejerus.”
Tet
In the pictographic reading this letter represents what surrounds and what holds.
Verses 65 to 72
Says affliction taught him the statutes, and prizes the law above great wealth.
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Psalms 119:65-72
You are good to Your servant: Affliction is named a teacher here: before it he went astray, and after it he keeps the word. Verse 71 says the affliction was good for him. The law from God's mouth outweighs thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
Psalms 119:65
“In this ninth section the verses all begin with the letter Teth. They are the witness of experience, testifying to the goodness of God, the graciousness of his dealings, and the preciousness of his word. Especially the Psalmist proclaims the excellent uses of adversity, and the goodness of God in afflicting him. The sixty-fifth verse is the text of the entire octave. "Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word." This is the summary of his life, and assuredly it is the sum of ours.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:65
"You have dealt in sweetness with Your servant: according unto Your word;" or rather, "according unto Your utterance" [Psalm 119:65]. The Greek word χρηστότης has been variously rendered by our translators by the words "sweetness" and "goodness." But since sweetness may exist also in evil, since all unlawful and unclean things afford pleasure, and it may also exist in that carnal pleasure which is permitted; we ought to understand the word "sweetness," which the Greeks termed χρηστότης, of spiritual blessings: for on this account our translators have preferred to term it "goodness."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:65
“Thou hast dealt well with thy servant - This begins a new division of the psalm, indicated by the Hebrew letter Teth (ת t), corresponding to our “t.” The use of this letter, however, does nothing to mark the sense. The literal meaning of the phrase here is, “Good hast thou done with thy servant;” and the idea is, that God had been good, and had done good to him. In the review of his own life he sees good, and good alone. Even in afflictions and trials this is all that he sees.”
Psalms 119:65
“Thou hast dealt well with thy servant - Whatsoever thy word has promised, thou hast fulfilled. Every servant of God can testify that God has done him nothing but good, and therefore he can speak good of his name.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:65
“The reliance on promises (Ps 119:49) is strengthened by experience of past dealings according with promises, and a prayer for guidance, encouraged by sanctified affliction.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Teach me good judgment and knowledge: Good judgment translates ta'am, the word for taste, a sense of discernment trained by use. Good runs through the Teth stanza, and the Hebrew tov begins with its letter. He asks for knowledge because he believes the commandments.
Before I was afflicted, I went astray: John Gill read the going astray before he was afflicted as the drift of weakness, a sheep that went astray before it was aware. Verse 176 closes the psalm on the same sheep. Afflicted, he now keeps the word.
Psalms 119:67
“Before I was afflicted, I went astray,.... From God; from his word, his ways and worship; like a lost sheep from the shepherd, the fold, the flock, and the footsteps of it; see Psa 119:176; Not that he wilfully, wickedly, maliciously, and through contempt, departed from his God; this he denies, Psa 18:21; but through the weakness of the flesh, the prevalence of corruption, and force of temptation, and very much through a careless, heedless, and negligent frame of spirit, he got out of the right way, and wandered from it before he was well aware.”
You are good, and You do what is good: Goodness is said of God's nature first and of His acts second. The request that follows asks to learn the statutes of a God like that. Character comes before conduct.
Psalms 119:68
If the soul, with its capacity for pleasure and delight, has tasted this true and highest good and has adhered to both with the means at its disposal, putting away sorrow and fear, then it is wonderfully inflamed. Having embraced the Word of God, it knows no bounds, it knows no satiety, and says, "You are sweet, O Lord, and in your joy teach me your laws."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letter 79patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:68
“The crafty malice of the wicked, in slandering him, so far from turning him away, but binds him closer to God's Word, which they are too stupid in sin to appreciate. HENGSTENBERG refers the "lie" to such slanders against the Jews during the captivity, as that in Ezr 4:1-6, of sedition.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies: Smeared translates taphal, a word for plastering over, and Charles Spurgeon heard in it a lie patched up. The false coat is laid over a true man. He answers with whole-hearted keeping.
Psalms 119:69
"The proud have forged a lie against me." They first derided him (Psa 119:51), then defrauded him (Psa 119:61), and now they have defamed him. To injure his character they resorted to falsehood, for they could find nothing against him if they spoke the truth. They forged a lie as a blacksmith beats out a weapon of iron, or they counterfeited the truth as men forge false coin. The original may suggest a common expression—"They have patched up a lie against me." They were not too proud to lie.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Their hearts are hard and callous: The Hebrew reads that their heart is gross like fat, a heart so thickened that nothing gets through, as at Isaiah 6:10. Against that dull heart stands a heart that delights. Feeling stands against numbness.
Psalms 119:70
"Their heart is as fat as grease." They delight in fatness, but I delight in thee. Their hearts, through sensual indulgence, have grown insensible, coarse, and grovelling; but thou hast saved me from such a fate through thy chastening hand. Proud men grow fat through carnal luxuries, and this makes them prouder still. They riot in their prosperity, and fill their hearts therewith till they become insensible, effeminate, and self indulgent. A greasy heart is something horrible; it is a fatness which makes a man fatuous, a fatty degeneration of the heart which leads to feebleness and death.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:70
"Their heart is curdled as milk" [Psalm 119:70]. Whose, save the proud, whose iniquity he hath said hath been multiplied upon him? But he wisheth it to be understood by this word, and in this passage, that their heart hath become hard. It is used also in a good sense, and is understood to mean, full of grace: for this word, some have also interpreted "curdled." ...
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:70
“Their heart is as fat as grease,.... Or tallow, a lump of it, fat or grease congealed.”
Psalms 119:70
“Their heart is as fat as grease - They are egregiously stupid, they have fed themselves without fear; they are become flesh-brutalized, and given over to vile affections, and have no kind of spiritual relish: but I delight in thy law - I have, through thy goodness, a spiritual feeling and a spiritual appetite.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:70
“Their heart is as fat as grease - They are prospered. They have health, property, influence, comforts of all kinds. heaven appears to smile upon them, and it seems as if it were one effect of a wicked course of life to make people prosperous. See Psa 17:10, note; Psa 73:7, note.”
It was good for me to be afflicted: The purpose clause names what the affliction was for: learning the statutes. Verse 68 asked God to teach, and verse 71 names one of His methods. The answer came through pain.
Psalms 119:71
Sin abounded by the law because through the law came knowledge of sin, and it became harmful for me to know what through my weakness I could not avoid. It is good to know beforehand what one is to avoid, but, if I cannot avoid something, it is harmful to have known about it. Thus was the law changed to its opposite, yet it became useful to me by the very increase of sin, for I was humbled. And David therefore says, "It is good for me that I have been humbled."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letter 83patristic
The law from Your mouth: Albert Barnes gave the Hebrew order, with good first: good to him is the law of God's mouth, above thousands in gold and silver. The stanza's key word, good, stands first in its last line.
Psalms 119:72
“The law of thy mouth - The law which proceeds out of thy mouth, or which thou hast spoken. Is better unto me - The Hebrew is, “Good to me is the law of thy mouth above thousands of gold and silver.” Than thousands of gold and silver - Than any amount of wealth. It is to me the most valuable possession; that which I prize above all other things. Compare the notes at Psa 19:10.”
Yod
In the pictographic reading this letter represents work and the power of a hand.
Verses 73 to 80
Owns that God's hands made him, and asks that those who fear God see him and rejoice.
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Psalms 119:73-80
Your hands have made me and fashioned me: He starts from creation: the hands that made him are asked for the understanding he cannot supply himself. Verse 74 asks that those who fear God see him and rejoice at his hope in God's word. Verse 75 reads the affliction as faithfulness on God's part.
Psalms 119:73
“But though we were to allow some prerogative to the Protoplast as having been deemed worthy of the hand of God, still it must be one of honor, not of nature. For he came from the earth, as other people, and the hand that then fashioned Adam is also both now and ever fashioning and giving entire consistency [same human nature] to those who come after him.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Defense of the Nicene Definition 3:9patristic
May those who fear You see me and rejoice: One man's hope, once answered, becomes the gladness of others who fear God. The companions of verse 63 are in view, and verse 79 returns to them. A private rescue carries a public witness.
Psalms 119:74
"They that fear thee will be glad when they see me: because I have hoped in thy word." When a man of God obtains grace for himself he becomes a blessing to others, especially if that grace has made him a man of sound understanding and holy knowledge. God fearing men are encouraged when they meet with experienced believers. A hopeful man is a God send when things are declining or in danger. When the hopes of one believer are fulfilled his companions are cheered and established, and led to hope also.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:74
"They that fear Thee," he saith, "will see me, and be glad" (ver. 74): or, as other copies have it, "will be joyful: because I have hoped in Thy word:" that is, in the things which Thou hast promised, that they may be the sons of promise, the seed of Abraham, in whom all nations are blessed. Who are they who fear God, and whom will they see and be glad, because he hath put his trust in the word of God?
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:74
“They that fear thee will be glad when they see me,.... In outward prosperity, delivered from all troubles, set on the throne of Israel, and at rest from all enemies round about: and in spiritual prosperity, being illuminated by the Spirit of God, having a spiritual understanding of divine things, an obedience of faith to the commands of God, in the lively exercise of grace upon him, in comfortable frames of soul, and flourishing circumstances.”
Psalms 119:74
“They that fear thee - Those who worship thee; thy friends; the pious and the good. Will be glad when they see me - They will welcome me to their society; they will regard and treat me as a friend and brother. It is implied here that he considered this to be an honor - a thing to be desired. He valued the friendship and affection of those who feared and served God, and he made it an object so to live as to be worthy of their affection.”
Psalms 119:74
“They that fear thee - They who are truly religious will be glad - will rejoice, at this farther proof of the saving power of God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous: The verse opens on settled knowledge, the conclusion of the lessons in verses 67 and 71. Faithfulness translates emunah, the reliability of One who keeps covenant, so the affliction is counted a kept promise. The pain belongs to the covenant.
Psalms 119:75
"I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right." He who would learn most must be thankful for what he already knows, and be willing to confess it to the glory of God. The Psalmist had been sorely tried, but he had continued to hope in God under his trial, and now he avows his conviction that be had been justly and wisely chastened. This he not only thought but knew, so that he was positive about it, and spoke without a moment's hesitation.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:75
"I know," she says, "O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in Your truth You have humbled me" [Psalm 119:75]. Mercy and truth are so spoken of in the Divine Word, that, while they are found in many passages, especially in the Psalms, it is also so read in one place, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth." And here indeed he has placed truth first, whereby we are humbled unto death, by the judgment of Him whose judgments are righteousness.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:75
“Judgments - Thy corrections. Of faithfulness - In pursuance of thy promises, and in order to my good.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Psalms 119:75
“I know, O Lord - I feel assured; I entertain no doubt on the subject. This was the conviction of the mind of the psalmist in affliction. Mysterious as the trial may have been, hard as it may have been to bear, long as it may have been continued, and varied as may have been the forms of the trial, yet he had no doubt that it was all right; that it was for the best purposes; and that it was in strict accordance with what was best.”
Psalms 119:75
“I know - that thy judgments are right - All the dispensations of thy providence are laid in wisdom, and executed in mercy: let me see that it is through this wisdom and mercy that I have been afflicted.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
May Your loving devotion comfort me: Loving devotion, chesed, is God's covenant loyalty, and here it is asked to serve as comfort. John Gill noted the condescension, a promise made to one who calls himself a servant. Comfort is sought inside the promise.
Psalms 119:76
“Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort,.... Shown in the provision and promise of a Saviour; in the forgiveness of sins through him; a discovery and application of which yields comfort under afflictions; according to thy word unto servant; a word of promise, in which he had assured him of his love, grace, mercy, and kindness; and that he would continue it to him, and comfort him with it: to make such a promise, and show such favour, was an instance of condescending grace to him, who was but his servant, and unworthy of his regard.”
May Your compassion come to me: Compassion, rachamim, is a plural from the word for the womb. The plea of verse 41 asked loving devotion to come, and verse 77 asks compassion to come so he may live. The law stays his delight.
Psalms 119:77
“Let thy tender mercies come unto me - See the notes at Psa 119:41. That I may live - It is evident that this was uttered in view of some great calamity by which his life was threatened. He was dependent for life - for recovery from sickness, or for deliverance from danger - wholly on the compassion of God. For thy law is my delight - See the notes at Psa 119:16; compare Psa 119:24, Psa 119:47. This is urged here as a reason for the divine interposition.”
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:77
“Let thy tender mercies come unto me,.... See Gill on Psa 119:41; that I may live; not merely corporeally; though corporeal life is a grant and favour, and the continuance of it; it is owing to the tender mercies of God that men are not consumed: but spiritually; the first principle of spiritual life is from the rich mercy and great love of God; his time of love is a time of life.”
Psalms 119:77
“But since those things are destined to happen after and through these, he next saith, "O let Thy loving mercies come upon me, and I shall live" (ver. 77). For then indeed I shall truly live, when I shall not be able to fear lest I die.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:77
"Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live." He was so hard pressed that he was at death's door if God did not succour him. He needed not only mercy, but "mercies," and these must be of a very gracious and considerate kind, even "tender mercies," for he was sore with his wounds.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:77
“Let thy tender mercies - רחמיך rachameycha, thy fatherly and affectionate feelings.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
May the arrogant be put to shame: Shame, feared for himself in verses 6 and 31, is asked for the arrogant who twisted his case with a lie. Subverting translates a verb for bending something crooked. He keeps to meditation while they work.
Psalms 119:78
“Let the proud be ashamed - Referring here to his enemies, who appear to have been in the higher ranks of life, or to have been those who prided themselves on their wealth, their station, or their influence. See the notes at Psa 119:51. The psalmist asks here that they might be confounded or put to shame; that is, that they might fail of accomplishing their purposes in regard to him. See Psa 25:2-3, notes; Job 6:20, note.”
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:78
“Let the proud be ashamed,.... The same persons he before speaks of as accursed, who had him in derision, and forged a lie against him.”
Psalms 119:78
“He then goes on as follows: "Let the proud be confounded, for they have unrighteously practised iniquity against me: but I will be occupied in Your commandments" [Psalm 119:78]. Behold, what he says, the meditation of the law of God, or rather, his meditation the law of God.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:78
"Let the proud be ashamed." He begged that the judgments of God might no longer fall upon himself, but upon his cruel adversaries. God will not suffer those who hope in his word to be put to shame, for he reserves that reward for haughty spirits: they shall yet be overtaken with confusion, and become the subjects of contempt, while God's afflicted ones shall again lift up their heads. Shame is for the proud, for it is a shameful thing to be proud. Shame is not for the holy, for there is nothing in holiness to be ashamed of.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:78
“Let the proud be ashamed - To reduce a proud man to shame, is to humble him indeed. Let them be confounded. Without cause - without any colourable pretext, have they persecuted me.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
May those who fear You turn to me: The request implies that some who feared God had turned from him. John Gill noted a reading that places this after the sin with Bathsheba, when godly friends kept their distance. He asks for his companions back.
Psalms 119:79
“Let those that fear thee turn unto me,.... Whose companion he was fond of being, Psa 119:63; There were some good men, it seems, that turned from him, took the part of his enemies, and sided with them against him, which was matter of grief to him. Some think this refers to the affair of Bathsheba; when some that feared the Lord, that had been familiar with him, did not choose to keep company with him, but abstained from his conversation, having so foully sinned, and brought forth dishonour to God and on his ways.”
May my heart be blameless in Your statutes: Albert Barnes gave the Hebrew as a heart that is perfect, and noted the Septuagint's word amomos, without blemish. Blameless first described the walk in verse 1, and here it is asked for the heart. The Yod stanza ends on the fear of shame again.
Psalms 119:80
“Let my heart be sound ... - Hebrew, “Be perfect.” See the notes at Job 1:1. The Septuagint here is “immaculate,” ἄμωμος amōmos. So the Latin Vulgate. It is the expression of a desire that the heart might be pure; that there might be no improper attachment for other objects; that there might be no defect of love to God. That I be not ashamed - See the notes at Psa 119:6.”
Kaf
In the pictographic reading this letter represents what an open hand holds.
Verses 81 to 88
The eyes fail while he waits, and he asks how long before God acts against his persecutors.
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Psalms 119:81-88
My soul faints for Your salvation: The body gives out here: the soul faints, the eyes fail, the man is like a wineskin dried up by smoke. He asks how many days the servant must wait while the arrogant dig pits for him. What holds is the precepts he has kept.
My eyes fail, looking for Your promise: John Gill gave two readings of what the failing eyes watch for: the promised Messiah, or the promise itself fulfilled after long delay. The question that follows asks for a time. He waits and says so.
Psalms 119:82
“Mine eyes fail for thy word,.... Either with looking for the Messiah, the essential Word, that was to be, and afterwards was made flesh, and dwelt among men; or for the fulfilment of the word of promise, on which he was made to hope; but that being deferred; and he believing in hope against hope, and looking out continually till it was accomplished, his eyes grew weary, and failed him, and he was just ready to give up all expectation of it; see Psa 77:8; saying, when wilt thou comfort me?”
like a wineskin dried up by smoke: The wineskin is a leather flask, John Gill noted, and one hung in the smoke of a fire dries, blackens and cracks. The man is shrivelled like that and still holds the statutes. Suffering has marked him.
Psalms 119:83
“The figure of “a bottle in the smoke” is essentially oriental; we must therefore go to the East for its explanation. This we will supply to our hearers and readers in the words of the Author of the Pictorial Bible: “This doubtless refers to a leathern bottle, of kid or goat-skin. The peasantry of Asia keep many articles, both dry and liquid, in such bottles, which, for security, are suspended from the roof, or hung against the walls of their humble dwellings.”
How many days must Your servant wait?: The first question counts his days: a servant's life is short, and waiting could outlast it. The second asks for the judgment that ends the persecution. The martyrs under the altar ask the same at Revelation 6:10.
Psalms 119:84
"How many are the days of Your servant? When will You be avenged of them that persecute me?" [Psalm 119:84]. In the Apocalypse, [Revelation 6:10-11] these are the words of the Martyrs, and long-suffering is enjoined them until the number of their brethren be fulfilled.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
The arrogant have dug pits for me: Pits dug for game are traps hidden in a path, and the arrogant set them for a man. Adam Clarke noted that the Vulgate and the Septuagint read the line as fables told to him, stories outside God's law. Traps and tales both work against the law.
Psalms 119:85
“The proud have digged pits - The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, translate this verse thus: “They have recited to me unholy fables, which are not according to thy law.” They wish us to receive their system of idolatry, and the tales concerning their gods; but these are not according to thy law. The Anglo-Saxon is the same: They quothed me the unrightwise spells; but no so so law thine.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
All Your commandments are faithful: Albert Barnes read the commandments as faithful in the sense of worthy to be relied on, and the persecution as resting on a lie. Truth stands on one side and falsehood on the other. The line ends in a bare cry for help.
Psalms 119:86
“All thy commandments are faithful - Margin, “faithfulness.” The idea in the Hebrew is that they are worthy to be relied on. They are founded in truth, and they should secure our confidence. They persecute me wrongfully ... - Hebrew, a “lie, “or “falsehood.” That is, There is a “lie” or “falsehood” at the foundation of their persecutions. Those persecutions are not based on any just views of what I am, or of the treatment which I ought to receive at the hand of my fellow-men. They charge on me tilings which are not true, and they act accordingly.”
They almost wiped me from the earth: Almost is the measure of how close the enemies came. Verse 8 asked God to keep from forsaking him, and here the same Hebrew verb is his own: he has kept from forsaking the precepts. Near death, he held on.
Psalms 119:87
"They had almost consumed me upon earth." His foes had almost destroyed him so as to make him altogether fail. If they could they would have eaten him, or burned him alive; anything so that they could have made a full end of the good man. Evidently he had fallen under their power to a large extent, and they had so used that power that he was well nigh consumed. He was almost gone from off the earth; but almost is not altogether, and so he escaped by the skin of his teeth.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:87
“They had almost consumed me upon earth,.... Almost destroyed his good name, wasted his substance, took away his crown and kingdom, and even his life; it was within a little of it, his soul had almost dwelt in silence; they had almost cast him down to the ground, and left him there.”
Psalms 119:87
When the Church acted thus, She suffered what he hath added, "They had almost made an end of me upon earth" (ver. 87): a great slaughter of martyrs having been made, while they confess and preach the truth. But since it is not in vain said, "O help Thou me;" he addeth, "But I forsook not Thy commandments."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:87
“They had almost consumed me upon earth - The word which is here translated “consumed” is the same which is used in Psa 119:81, and there rendered “fainteth.” See the notes at that verse. The idea is, that their persecutions had been so severe, and so long continued, that his strength was almost exhausted; he was ready to faint and to die. But I forsook not thy precepts - I still adhered to thee, even in the extremity of my suffering. The effect of persecution was not to drive me from thee, or to lead me to abandon thee.”
Psalms 119:87
“They had almost consumed me - Had it not been for thy mercy, we had all been destroyed under this oppressive captivity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revive me according to Your loving devotion: The stanza that began with a fainting soul ends on a request for life. The ground of the plea is God's loving devotion, the chesed asked for in verses 41 and 76. New life is wanted for obedience.
Psalms 119:88
"Quicken me after thy loving kindness." Most wise, most blessed prayer! If we are revived in our own personal piety we shall be out of reach of our assailants. Our best protection from tempters and persecutors is more life. Lovingkindness itself cannot do us greater service than by making us to have life more abundantly. When we are quickened we are able to bear affliction, to baffle cunning, and to conquer sin.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:88
“And that She might persevere unto the end, "O quicken me," he saith, "after Thy loving mercy: and so shall I keep the testimonies of Thy mouth" (ver. 88); where the Greek hath Marturia. This was not to be passed over in silence, on account of that sweetest name of Martyrs, who beyond doubt when so great cruelty of the persecutors was raging, that the Church was almost made an end of upon earth, would never have kept the testimonies of God, unless that had been vouchsafed them which is here spoken of, "O quicken me after Thy loving-kindness."”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:88
“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness,.... According to it, and with it; let me have some discoveries of it, and of interest in it; and that will quicken me, revive and comfort me, under all the reproaches, ill usage, and persecutions of men.”
Psalms 119:88
“Quicken me - Cause me to live; revive me. See Psa 71:20, note; Eph 2:1, note. Compare Psa 80:18; Rom 8:11; 1Pe 3:18; Joh 6:63. After thy loving-kindness - Thy mercy; thy grace; thy compassion. That is, Let the measure of the grace given to me be thine own benevolent nature, and not my deserts. That is all I ask; that is all I could desire. So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth - Which proceeds out of thy mouth.”
Psalms 119:88
“Quicken me - Make and keep me alive. So shall I keep - Without the spiritual life there is no obedience; we must therefore rise from the dead, and be quickened by the Spirit of Christ.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamed
In the pictographic reading this letter represents teaching and being led.
Verses 89 to 96
Moves from the word fixed in the heavens to the earth that endures under it.
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Psalms 119:89-96
Your word, O LORD, is everlasting: Verse 89 calls the word everlasting and fixed in the heavens, and verse 90 gives the same permanence to God's faithfulness through all generations. All things serve God, and the ordinances stand to this day. Verse 96 sets a limit on everything perfect and none on the commandment.
Psalms 119:89
“ל, LAMED.--The Twelfth Part. LAMED. For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:89
“In all changes God's Word remains firm (1Pe 1:25). Like the heavens, it continually attests God's unfailing power and unchanging care (Ps 89:2). is settled in--that is, stands as firmly as the heaven in which it dwells, and whence it emanated.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
You established the earth, and it endures: Verse 89 set the word in the heavens, and verse 90 comes down to the ground under the reader's feet. The earth God founded still stands, one generation after another, as a visible pledge of His faithfulness. Every generation walks on that evidence.
Psalms 119:90
But that the providence and ordering power of the Word also, over all and toward all, is attested by all inspired Scripture, this passage suffices to confirm our argument, where people who speak of God say, "You have laid the foundation of the earth, and it abides. The day continues according to your ordinance."
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Against the Heathen 46:2patristic
for all things are servants to You: The ordinances here are the rulings by which God governs heaven and earth, the same Hebrew word the psalm uses for the judgments of Scripture. The whole creation keeps them by standing where He set it. All things obey, and the psalmist asks to be among them.
Psalms 119:91
“If we are to believe this [that God knows the past, present and future] about the ages, much more must we believe it about the day of judgment, on the ground that the Son of God has knowledge of it, as being already made by him. For it is written, "According to your ordinance the day will continue." He did not merely say "the day continues" but even "will continue," so that the things that are to come might be governed by his ordinance. Does he not know what he ordered? "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.4.198patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:91
“They--the heaven (Ps 119:89) and the earth (Ps 119:90). HENGSTENBERG translates, "They stand for thy judgment," that is, ready, as obedient servants, to execute them.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
If Your law had not been my delight: The stanza turns here from heaven and earth to one afflicted man. The law that holds the creation in place also held him, and his delight in it is named as the thing that kept him alive. Without it he would have perished.
Psalms 119:92
"Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction." That word which has preserved the heavens and the earth also preserves the people of God in their time of trial. With that word we are charmed; it is a mine of delight to us. We take a double and treble delight in it, and derive a multiplied delight from it, and this stands us in good stead when all other delights are taken from us.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:92
“He then looks back towards the source of this earth's deliverance, which caused it to abide when founded; and adds, "If my delight had not been in Your law, I should perchance have perished in my humiliation" [Psalm 119:92]. This is the law of faith, not a vain faith, but that which works through love. [Galatians 5:6] Through this grace is gained, which makes men courageous in temporal tribulation, that they may not perish in the humiliation of mortality.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:92
“Unless thy law had been my delights - Had we not had the consolations of religion, we should long ago have died of a broken heart.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:92
“Hence the pious are encouraged and inclined to seek a knowledge of it, and persevere amidst the efforts of those planning and waiting to destroy them. my delights--plural, not merely delight, but equal to all other delights.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
for by them You have revived me: The promise never to forget rests on a memory of what the precepts did. God used them to revive him, the reviving he asked for in verses 25, 37, 40 and 88. What gave life is kept in mind.
Psalms 119:93
"I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me." When we have felt the quickening power of a precept we never can forget it. We may read it, learn it, repeat it, and think we have it, and yet it may slip out of our minds; but if it has once given us life or renewed that life, there is no fear of its falling from our recollection. Experience teaches, and teaches effectually.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:93
"I will never forget," he says, "Your righteousnesses, for with them You have quickened me" [Psalm 119:93]. Behold how it was that he did not perish in his humiliation. For, save God quickens, what is man, Who can indeed kill, but cannot quicken himself?
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:93
“I will never forget thy precepts - How can I? It is by them I live.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:93
“I will never forget thy precepts - Thy laws; thy truth. I will bear them in mind forever. To all eternity they shall be the object of my meditation. For with them thou hast quickened me - By them thou hast given me life, spiritual life. Compare the notes at Jas 1:18. This is stated as a reason why he would never suffer the truth of God to pass out of his mind. By that truth he had been made really to live. He had been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life.”
I am Yours; save me: The Hebrew opens on the stanza's letter, lekha ani, a claim of belonging to God. The plea stands on that ownership, asking God to keep what is His, and the evidence offered is the seeking of the precepts. God is asked to guard His own.
Psalms 119:94
"I am thine, save me." A comprehensive prayer with a prevailing argument. Consecration is a good plea for preservation. If we are conscious that we are the Lord's we may be confident that he will save us. We are the Lord's by creation, election, redemption, surrender, and acceptance; and hence our firm hope and assured belief that he will save us. A man will surely save his own child: Lord, save me.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:94
“He next adds: "I am Yours: O save me, for I have sought Your righteousnesses" [Psalm 119:94]. We must not understand lightly the words, "I am Yours." For what is not His? Why then is it that the Psalmist has commended himself unto God somewhat in a more familiar sense, in these words, "I am Yours: O save me;" save because he wished it to be understood that he had desired to be his own only to his harm, which is the first and the greatest evil of disobedience?”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:94
“I am thine, save me,.... From all troubles and afflictions; from all enemies, temporal and spiritual; from Satan, and his principalities and powers, from sin, and all the wretched consequences of it; from hell wrath, and damnations: salvation from all which is by Christ.”
Psalms 119:94
“I am thine - All that he had, and was, belonged to God. This is an expression of a fact, and of a purpose: a fact about which he had no doubt; a purpose ever to be the Lord’s. This is indicative of the real state of feeling in the heart of a pious man. He feels that he is the Lord’s; he has no other desire than to be his forever. Save me - Deliver me from my enemies; from sin; from hell. As he belonged to God, he prayed that God would save and preserve his own.”
Psalms 119:94
“I am thine, save me - He who can say this need fear no evil. In all trials, temptations, dangers, afflictions, persecutions, I am thine. Thy enemies wish to destroy me! Lord, look to thy servant; thy servant looks to thee. O how sovereign is such a word against all the evils of life! I am Thine! therefore save thine Own!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The wicked wait to destroy me: The wicked lie in wait like men in ambush, and the verse sets their watching beside his. They watch for a chance to destroy, and he gives his attention to the testimonies. His answer to the ambush is study.
Psalms 119:95
"The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies." They were like wild beasts crouching by the way, or highway men waylaying a defenceless traveller; but the Psalmist went on his way without considering them, for he was considering something better, namely, the witness or testimony which God has borne to the sons of men. He did not allow the malice of the wicked to take him off from his holy study of the divine word.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:95
"The ungodly," he says, "have awaited me that they might destroy me; but I have understood Your testimonies" [Psalm 119:95]. What means, "that they might destroy me"? Did he then fear that he should perish altogether at the death of his body? God forbid! And what means, "have awaited me," save that he should consent with them unto iniquity? For then they would destroy him. And he has said why he has not perished: "I understood Your testimonies." The Greek word, Μαρτύρια, sounds more familiarly to the ears of the Church.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:95
“The wicked have waited for me to destroy me - That is, they have lain in wait; or, they have laid a plan. They are watching the opportunity to do it. But I will consider thy testimonies - I will think of them; I will adhere to them; I will find my support in them; I will not be driven from my adhesion to them by an apprehension of what man can do to me.”
I have seen a limit to all perfection: The word for perfection, tiklah, occurs only here, and Albert Barnes applies it to character, to claims of perfect virtue in oneself or in others. The Septuagint and the Vulgate render it consummation. Every claim of a perfect life has a limit the psalmist has seen with his own eyes.
Mem
In the pictographic reading this letter represents water and what is deep.
Verses 97 to 104
Love for the law makes him wiser than his enemies, his teachers and the elders.
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Psalms 119:97-104
Oh, how I love Your law!: Three comparisons stand together: wiser than his enemies, more insight than his teachers, more discernment than the elders. The reason given each time is the word kept and meditated on. Verse 103 moves to taste, the words sweeter than honey.
Psalms 119:97
“מ, MEM.--The Thirteenth Part. MEM. O how love I thy law!....”
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies: The enemies here have cunning and power on their side, and the commandments give the psalmist a wisdom beyond theirs. Deuteronomy 4:6 had promised that keeping the statutes would show Israel's wisdom in the sight of the nations. That wisdom stays with him daily.
Psalms 119:98
"Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies." The commands were his book, but God was his teacher. The letter can make us knowing, but only the divine Spirit can make us wise. Wisdom is knowledge put to practical use.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:98
“And he then addeth: "Thou hast made me to understand Thy commandment above mine enemies; for it is ever with me" (ver. 98). For "they have indeed a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," etc.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:98
“Thou, through thy commandments - By the teaching and power of thy law. Hast made me wiser than mine enemies - I have a better understanding of thee, of thy law, of the duties of this life, and in regard to the life to come, than my enemies have - not because I am naturally better, or because I have higher endowments by nature, but because thou hast made me wiser than they are.”
Psalms 119:98
“Wiser than mine enemies - Some have thought that this Psalm was composed by Daniel, and that he speaks of himself in these verses. Being instructed by God, he was found to have more knowledge than any of the Chaldeans, magicians, soothsayers, etc., etc.; and his wisdom soon appeared to the whole nation vastly superior to theirs.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I have more insight than all my teachers: The claim sounds proud until the reason is read: his teachers taught him, and the testimonies became his meditation. A pupil who meditates on the source can pass a teacher who only repeats it. The advantage belongs to the word.
I discern more than the elders: The elders were the old men who sat as judges at the city gate, and experience was their claim to discernment. The psalmist names obedience as the source of his, the precepts kept. Jesus sets the same order at John 7:17.
I have kept my feet from every evil path: The keeping runs in two directions: feet kept from evil paths so that the word can be kept. Restraint comes first here as the condition of obedience. Walking one road means refusing the others.
Psalms 119:101
“I have refrained my feet from every evil way - I have walked in the path which thy law marks out. I have avoided the way of wickedness, and have not yielded to the seductions of a sinful life. That I might keep thy word - I have avoided all those allurements which would turn me from obedience, and which would prevent a right observance of thy commands. This indicates a purpose and a desire to keep the law of God, and shows the method which he adopted in order to do this.”
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Psalms 119:101
“But what comes next, does not seem to apply to the Head, but to the Body: "I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your words" [Psalm 119:101]. For that Head of ours, the Saviour of the Body Himself, could not be borne by carnal lust into any evil way, so that it should be needful for Him to refrain His feet, as though they would go there of their own accord; which we do, when we refrain our evil desires, which He had not, that they may not follow evil ways.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:101
"I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word." There is no treasuring up the holy word unless there is a casting out of all unholiness: if we keep the good word we must let go the evil. David had zealously watched his steps and put a check upon his conduct, —he had refrained his feet. No one evil way could entice him, for he knew that if he went astray but in one road he had practically left the way of righteousness, therefore he avoided every false way.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:101
“I have refrained my feet - By avoiding all sin, the spirit of wisdom still continues to rest upon me.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:101
“Avoidance of sinful courses is both the effect and means of increasing in divine knowledge (compare Ps 19:10).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
for You Yourself have taught me: Verse 99 set the psalmist above his teachers, and verse 102 names the Teacher behind the claim. God Himself taught him, and a lesson from that Teacher held him to the ordinances. Isaiah 54:13 promises the same teaching to Zion's children.
Psalms 119:102
"I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me." They are well taught whom God teaches. What we learn from the Lord we never forget. God's instruction has a practical effect—we follow his way when he teaches us; and it has an abiding effect,—we do not depart from holiness. Read this verse in connection with the preceding and you get the believer's "I have," and his "I have not:" he is good both positively and negatively.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:102
"I have not shrunk," he says, "from Your judgments: for You have laid down a law for me" [Psalm 119:102]. He has stated what made him fear, so that he refrained his feet from every evil way....Thou, more inward than my inmost self, You have laid down a law within my heart by Your Spirit, as it were by Your fingers, that I might not fear it as a slave without love, but might love it with a chaste fear as a son, and fear it with a chaste love.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:102
“I have not departed from thy judgments - Thy law; thy commands. This cannot mean that he had never done this, but that as a great rule of life he had not done it. The character and aim of his life had been obedience, not disobedience. A man may honestly say this, though he may be conscious of much imperfection, and may feel that he has not perfectly carried out such an aim and purpose.”
How sweet are Your words to my taste—: Charles Spurgeon noted that a writer might have called the words sweet to the ears, and the psalmist says sweet to the taste. Words heard are taken in and tasted, as Ezekiel ate the scroll at Ezekiel 3:3. Taste is knowledge from inside.
Psalms 119:103
The soul presses forward for a glimpse of hidden mysteries, to the very abode of the Word, to the very dwelling place of that highest Good, and his light and brightness. In that bosom and secret dwelling place of the Father the soul hastens to hear his words, and having heard them, it finds them sweeter than all things. Let the prophet who has tasted this sweetness teach you, when he says, "How sweet are your words to my lips, above honeycomb to my mouth."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letter 79patristic
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Psalms 119:103
THIS is a time of feasting and we may as well have our feast as other people have theirs. Let us see whether there is not something for our spiritual palate, something to satisfy our spiritual appetite, that we may eat, and be content, and rejoice before the Lord. Do you not think that two of the words in our text are very strange? If you had written them, would you not have said, "How sweet are Your Words unto my ears"? The Psalmist says, "How sweet are Your Words unto my palate!"
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2340: “The Best Christmas Fare” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
therefore I hate every false way: Understanding comes first and hatred follows from it, joined by therefore. John Gill takes every false way to cover false worship, false doctrine and the inventions of men, and he cites the Targum, every lying man. The stanza of love for the law closes on a hatred.
Psalms 119:104
“Through thy precepts I get understanding,.... Of the will of God; of his worship, the nature and manner of it; of his ordinances, their use and importance; and of his doctrines, and the excellency of them; therefore I hate every false way; of worship; all superstition and will worship, the commandments and inventions of men, and every false doctrine; all lies in hypocrisy, for no lie is of the truth; every thing that is contrary to the word of God, and is not according to truth and godliness. The Targum is, "I hate every lying man.''”
Nun
In the pictographic reading this letter represents life that moves and multiplies.
Verses 105 to 112
Takes the word as lamp and light, and holds an oath sworn under affliction.
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Psalms 119:105-112
Your word is a lamp to my feet: A lamp shows the next step and a light shows the road, and both are said of the word in one verse. He has sworn to keep the judgments and calls the testimonies his heritage. Verse 109 has him carrying his life in his hands.
Psalms 119:105
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet." We are walkers through the city of this world, and we are often called to go out into its darkness; let us never venture there without the light giving word, lest we slip with our feet. Each man should use the word of God personally, practically, and habitually, that he may see his way and see what lies in it. When darkness settles down upon all around me, the word of the Lord, like a flaming torch, reveals my way.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:105
“ן, NUN.--The Fourteenth Part. NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,.... The same Solomon says of the law and commandment, the preceptive part of the word, Pro 6:23; and the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "law" here.”
I have sworn and confirmed: The lamp of verse 105 shows the path, and in verse 106 the psalmist binds himself by oath to walk it. Swearing and confirming is covenant language, a vow made and then ratified. Knowing the way became a promise to keep it.
Psalms 119:106
"I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments." Under the influence of the clear light of knowledge he had firmly made up his mind, and solemnly declared his resolve in the sight of God. Perhaps mistrusting his own fickle mind, he had pledged himself in sacred form to abide faithful to the determinations and decisions of his God. Whatever path might open before him, he was sworn to follow that only upon which the lamp of the word was shining.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:106
"I have sworn, and am steadfastly purposed to keep Your righteous judgments" [Psalm 119:106]: as one who walked aright in the light of that lantern, and kept to straight paths. For he calls what he has determined by a sacrament, an oath; because the mind ought to be so fixed in keeping the righteous judgments of God, that its determination should be in the place of an oath. Now the righteous judgments of God are kept by faith; when, under the righteous judgment of God, neither any good work is believed to be fruitless, nor any sin unpunished.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:106
“I have sworn - I have solemnly purposed; I have given to this purpose the solemnity and sanction of an oath. That is, I have called God to witness; I have formed the purpose in his presence, and with the consciousness that his eye is upon me. So all who make a profession of religion solemnly vow or swear.”
Psalms 119:106
“I have sworn - Perhaps this means no more than that he had renewed his covenant with God; he had bound himself to love and serve him only.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:106
“Such was the national covenant at Sinai and in the fields of Moab.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I am severely afflicted, O LORD: The oath of verse 106 stands next to an admission of severe affliction. The man who swore to keep the judgments asks the same word to revive him. Vow and need sit side by side.
Psalms 119:107
"I am afflicted very much." According to the last verse he had been sworn in as a soldier of the Lord, and in this next verse he is called to suffer hardness in that capacity. Our service of the Lord does not screen us from trial, but rather secures it for us. The Psalmist was a consecrated man, and yet a chastened man; nor were his chastisements light; for it seemed as if the more he was obedient the more he was afflicted. He evidently felt the rod to be cutting deep, and this he pleads before the Lord.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:107
“I am afflicted very much,.... In a temporal sense, in his body, in his family, and by his enemies; in a spiritual sense, with the corruptions of his heart, with the temptations of Satan, and with the hidings of God's face; and what with one thing or another, he was pressed above measure, and his spirits sunk under the weight of the affliction, so that he was as a dead man; and therefore prays, quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word; See Gill on Psa 119:25.”
Psalms 119:107
“But, because the body of Christ has suffered many most grievous evils for this faith, he says, "I was humbled above measure" [Psalm 119:107]. He does not say, I have humbled myself, so that we must needs understand that humiliation which is commanded; but he says, "I was humbled above-measure;" that is, suffered a very heavy persecution, because he swore and was steadfastly purposed to keep the righteous judgments of God. And, lest in such trouble faith herself might faint he adds, "Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your word:" that is, according to Your promise.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:107
“I am afflicted very much - עד מאד ad meod, “to extremity, excessively.” We are in the most oppressive captivity. Quicken me - Deliver us from our bondage.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:107
“I am afflicted very much - The form of the affliction is not mentioned. There are frequent allusions in the psalm to the fact that the author was and had been afflicted - as, in fact, must be the case in the life of every good man. Compare Psa 119:71, Psa 119:75. If David was the author of the psalm, we know that there were numerous occasions in his life when this language would be appropriate. As designed for the people of God at all times, it was important that there should be these allusions to affliction. Quicken me ...”
Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth: The freewill offering of Leviticus 7:16 was brought beyond anything the law required, and here the offering is words, praise from the mouth. Hosea 14:2 and Hebrews 13:15 speak of the same offering of the lips. He brings his thanks before asking to be taught.
Psalms 119:108
"Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord." The living praise the living God, and therefore the quickened one presents his sacrifice. He offers prayer, praise, confession, and testimony—these, presented with his voice in the presence of an audience, were the tribute of his mouth unto Jehovah. He trembles lest these should be so ill uttered as to displease the Lord, and therefore he implores acceptance. He pleads that the homage of his mouth was cheerfully and spontaneously rendered; all his utterances were freewill offerings.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:108
"Make the freewill offerings of my mouth well pleasing, O Lord" [Psalm 119:108]: that is, let them please You; do not reject, but approve them. By the freewill offerings of the mouth are well understood the sacrifices of praise, offered up in the confession of love, not from the fear of necessity; whence it is said, "a freewill offering will I offer You." But what does he add? "and teach me Your judgments"? Had he not himself said above, "From Your judgments I have not swerved"? How could he have done thus, if he knew them not?
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:108
“Accept, I beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth - Or, the meaning of the word here rendered “free-will,” see the notes at Psa 110:3. It conveys the idea that there is no constraint or compulsion; that the offering is a prompting of the heart. The offering might be that of flour, or grain, or fruits, or property of any kind, as devoted to God; or it might be, as here, an offering of the lips, expressed in prayer and praise.”
Psalms 119:108
“The freewill-offerings of my mouth - נדבות פי nidboth pi, the voluntary offerings which I have promised. Or, As we are in captivity, and cannot sacrifice to thee, but would if we could; accept the praises of our mouth, and the purposes of our hearts, instead of the sacrifices and offerings which we would bring to thy altar, but cannot.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I constantly take my life in my hands: Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes read the phrase as a proverb for constant danger, a life carried in hand where it could be snatched. The Septuagint reads the life as held in God's hands, and Barnes says the Hebrew will not bear it. The danger never crowded out the law.
Psalms 119:109
“My soul is continually in my hand - The Septuagint renders this, “My soul is always in thy hands,” but the Hebrew will not admit of this construction. The idea in the original is that his soul - his life - was always in jeopardy. The expression seems to be proverbial. Anything taken in the hand is liable to be rudely snatched away. Thus a casket of jewels, or a purse of gold in the hand, may at any moment be seized by robbers. See the notes at Job 13:14. Compare 1Sa 19:5; Jdg 12:3.”
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Psalms 119:109
“My soul is continually in my hand - נפשי naphshi, my life; that is, it is in constant danger, every hour I am on the confines of death. The expression signifies to be in continual danger. So Xenarchus in Athenaeus, lib. xiii., c. 4: Εν τῃ χειρι την ψυχην εχοντα, “having the life in the hand;” which signifies continual danger and jeopardy. There is some thing like this in the speech of Achilles to Ulysses, Hom. Il. ix., ver. 322: - Αιει εμην ψυχην παραβαλλομενος πολεμιζειν· “Always presenting my life to the dangers of the fight.””
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The wicked have set a snare for me: A snare is a bird trap, hidden and baited where the prey is expected to stray. The wicked laid it hoping he would wander, and his safety lay in keeping to the precepts. The lamp of verse 105 shows the snare.
Psalms 119:110
"The wicked have laid a snare for me." Spiritual life is the scene of constant danger: the believer lives with his life in his hand, and meanwhile all seem plotting to take it from him, by cunning if they cannot by violence. We shall not find it an easy thing to live the life of the faithful. Wicked spirits and wicked men will leave no stone unturned for our destruction.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
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Psalms 119:110
“The wicked have laid a snare for me,.... To draw him into sin, and so into mischief; and even to take away his life, as they are said to dig pits for him, Psa 119:85; yet I erred not from thy precepts: not wilfully and wickedly, though through inadvertence and infirmity, as he often did, and every good man does; and indeed his errors are so many, that they cannot be understood and numbered.”
Psalms 119:110
"The ungodly," he says, "have laid a snare for me: but yet I swerved not from Your commandments" [Psalm 119:110]. Whence this, unless because his soul is in the hands of God, or in his own hands is offered to God to be quickened?
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:110
“The wicked have laid a snare for me - As men do to take wild beasts or birds. See the notes at Psa 119:85. Compare Job 18:8, note; Job 18:10, note; Psa 9:15, note; Psa 69:22, note. See also Psa 119:61, Psa 119:69. Yet I erred not from thy precepts - Notwithstanding the danger to which I was exposed, I maintained a steadfast adherence to thy commandments. I was not deterred from obeying them by any peril which beset me.”
Psalms 119:110
“The wicked have laid a snare - Thus their lives were continually exposed to danger.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Your testimonies are my heritage forever: Albert Barnes notes that the Hebrew verb, nachal, is the word used for Israel taking possession of the promised land as an inheritance. The psalmist has taken the testimonies as his land, a portion held forever. No enemy can seize it.
Psalms 119:111
“Thy testimonies - Thy law; thy revealed will; the revelation which thou hast given considered as thy solemn “testimony” as to what is true and right. Have I taken as an heritage for ever - As my inheritance; as my property; as that which I consider to be of real and permanent value. The Hebrew word used here - נחל nachal - means to receive as a possession; to acquire; to possess as wealth; and then, to inherit. It is usually applied to the possession of the promised land as an inheritance.”
I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes: The verb means to stretch out, as a hand is stretched, and Albert Barnes reads it as a deliberate choice of direction for the heart. The same verb stood in the prayer of verse 36. Barnes traces every right inclination to God and still calls the choice the man's own.
Psalms 119:112
“I have inclined mine heart - The Hebrew word means properly “to stretch out”; “to extend” - as the hand. Exo 8:6, Exo 8:17. Then it means to incline, to bow, to depress. Here the idea is, that he had “given” that “direction” to the inclinations of his heart; he had resolved or purposed. He refers to an act of choice on his part, meaning that he had preferred this course, or that he had made this a solemn intention.”
Samek
In the pictographic reading this letter represents support and what holds a falling thing up.
Verses 113 to 120
Turns from the double-minded to God as hiding place and shield, and closes in awe.
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Psalms 119:113-120
The double-minded I despise: The double minded are despised and the law is loved, set side by side in one verse. God is called a hiding place and a shield, and the wicked are discarded like dross. The last verse has his flesh trembling in awe.
Psalms 119:113
“ס, SAMECH.--The Fifteenth Part. SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts,.... Or thoughts: evil thoughts are undoubtedly meant, no other can be the object of hatred to a good man; they are such as are contrary to the law of God, and forbidden by it, mentioned in the next clause as the object of love, in opposition to these; and which are abominable to God, and defiling to men; should be forsaken, need pardon; and, if not pardoned, will be brought into judgment, and there exposed, and men punished for them.”
You are my hiding place and my shield: A hiding place keeps a man out of sight, and a shield takes the blow when he is found. Psalm 32:7 and Psalm 3:3 give God each of these names. The hope for both rests on the word.
Psalms 119:114
"Thou art my hiding place and my shield." To his God he ran for shelter from vain thoughts; there he hid himself away from their tormenting intrusions, and in solemn silence of the soul he found God to be his hiding place. When called into the world, if he could not be alone with God as his hiding place, he could have the Lord with him as his shield, and by this means he could ward off the attacks of wicked suggestions.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:114
“He next adds: "You are my helper and my taker up" [Psalm 119:114]: "my helper," to do good works: "my taker up," to escape evil ones. In the next words, "I have hoped more on Your word," he speaks as a son of promise.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:114
“Thou art my hiding place - See the notes at Psa 32:7, where the same expression occurs. And my shield - See Psa 5:12, note; Psa 84:11, note. I hope in thy word - See Psa 119:74, Psa 119:81.”
Psalms 119:114
“Mv hiding place - My asylum. And my shield - There is a time in which I may be called to suffer in secret; then thou hidest me. There may be a time in which thou callest me to fight; then thou art my Shield and Protector.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Depart from me, you evildoers: The psalmist turns aside and speaks to the evildoers themselves, sending them away so that he may obey. John Gill ties them to the double-minded of verse 113 and cites Aben Ezra that those who think evil commonly do it. Obedience needs a cleared company.
Psalms 119:115
“Depart from me, ye evildoers,.... The same with the evil thinkers, Psa 119:113; According to Aben Ezra, they that think evil commonly do it; as they devise it, they commit it.”
Sustain me as You promised: The Hebrew verb, samakh, begins with the stanza's letter and means to prop up and hold. The support is asked according to the promise, and the fear named is shame over his hope, the shame he feared in verse 6. Paul answers that fear at Romans 5:5.
Psalms 119:116
“Uphold me - Sustain me in the trials and the temptations of life. Help me to bear afflictions without sinking under them; to meet temptations without yielding to them; to encounter opposition from the enemies of religion without being overcome. According unto thy word - (1) According to the requirements of thy word - that I may be conformed to them; (2) according to the promises of thy word - that they may be verified in me.”
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:116
“Uphold me according unto thy word,.... In thy ways, that my footsteps slip not; in thine arms, and with the right hand of thy righteousness, from fainting and sinking under difficulties and discouragements, in trying circumstances; and from slipping and sliding out of the way of God; and from a total and final filling away, according to thy word of promise, that, as are the days of thy people, their strength shall be; and that thou wilt never leave them nor forsake them.”
Psalms 119:116
"Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may have." It was so necessary that the Lord should hold up his servant, that he could not even live without it. Our soul would die if the Lord did not continually sustain it, and every grace which makes spiritual life to be truly life would decay if he withdrew his upholding hand.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:116
“Depart from me - Odi profanum vulgus, etarceo, I abominate the profane, and will have no communion with them. I drive them away from my presence. 119:116Uphold me - סמכני sammecheni, prop me up; give me thyself to lean upon.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Uphold me, and I will be saved: Albert Barnes gives the verb as to prop, and reads the prayer as an acknowledgment of dependence on God in this life and the next. The pledge that follows is to look to the statutes always. Held up, he keeps looking.
Psalms 119:117
“Hold thou me up - Keep me from falling in the trials and temptations of life. The Hebrew word means to prop, uphold, support. The Septuagint is, “Aid me.” And I shall be safe - And I shall be saved; or, that I may be saved. It is an acknowledgment of entire dependence on God for salvation - temporal and eternal. And I will have respect ... - I will look to thy statutes; I will have them always in my eye. Compare the notes at Psa 119:6.”
You reject all who stray from Your statutes: Albert Barnes renders the verb as to make light of, from a root meaning to weigh, so that God counts those who stray as chaff. Their deceit comes to nothing. Barnes reads the doubled phrase as an emphatic way of calling the whole thing false.
Psalms 119:118
“Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes - Compare the notes at Psa 119:21. Rather, “Thou hast made light of,” or “thou despisest.” The Hebrew word means properly to suspend in a balance; to weigh. Then it means to lift up lightly or easily; and then, to make light of; to contemn; to regard anything as “light.” The Septuagint and Latin Vulgate render it, “Thou dost despise.” That is, God regards them as of no account; as a light substance of no value; as chaff which the wind carries away.”
You discard like dross: Dross is the scum a refiner skims off molten silver and discards. All the wicked on earth are that waste, and the sight of God's refining drives the psalmist to love the testimonies more. Judgment on others teaches him to cling.
Psalms 119:119
"Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross." He does not trifle with them, or handle them with kid gloves. No, he judges them to be the scum of the earth, and he treats them accordingly by putting them away. He puts them away from his church, away from their honours, away from the earth, and at last away from himself. "Depart," saith he, "ye cursed." If even a good man feels forced to put away the evil doers from him, much more must the thrice holy God put away the wicked.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:119
“Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross,.... Which is of no worth and value, useless and unprofitable; which is cast into the fire, and separated from the choice metal.”
Psalms 119:119
After those words on which we have been commenting, Paul continues and says, "Now the law entered in that sin might abound," but this does not apply to the sin that is derived from Adam, of which he said above: "Death reigned through one." Clearly, we must understand by it either the natural law that was known in those ages among all who had the use of reason or the written Law that was given by Moses but that could not give life or set people free "from the law of sin and death" that came down from Adam.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · LETTER 157patristic
Psalms 119:119
“Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross - There is no true metal in them: when they are tried by the refining fire, they are burnt up; they fly off in fumes, and come to no amount. There is probably an allusion here to the scum or scorias at the surface of melting metals, which is swept oft previously to casting the metal into the mould.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:119
“Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth - Margin, “causest to cease.” Literally: “Dross ... thou makest all the wicked of the earth to cease.” They are seen by the psalmist as dross, and then he says that God had treated them as such. Like dross - The “scoriae” of metals, or of a furnace. This dross is cast out as of no value. So the wicked are regarded by God. Therefore I love thy testimonies - I love a law which condemns sin. I love a government which ferrets out and punishes the guilty.”
My flesh trembles in awe of You: The judgments that discarded the wicked in verse 119 now make the psalmist himself tremble. Love for the testimonies and fear of the judgments stand together in one man. Habakkuk 3:16 records the same trembling before God's work.
Psalms 119:120
“O the divine mystery of that cross, on which weakness hangs, might is free, vices are nailed and triumphal trophies raised. So that a certain saint said, "Pierce my flesh with nails for fear of you"; he says not with nails of iron but of fear and faith. For the bonds of virtue are stronger than those of punishment. Lastly, Peter was bound by his faith, when he had followed the Lord as far as the hall of the high priest; no one had bound and punishment had not loosened Peter, who had been bound by faith.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Holy Spirit 1.9.108patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:120
“The "judgments" are those on the wicked (Ps 119:119). Joyful hope goes hand in hand with fear (Hab 3:16-18).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ayin
In the pictographic reading this letter represents sight and what is seen.
Verses 121 to 128
Pleads his own cause as one dealt with justly, and says the time for the LORD to act has come.
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Psalms 119:121-128
I have done what is just and right: He pleads on the ground of his conduct, having done what is just and right, and asks to be kept from oppressors. Verse 126 says the time has come for the LORD to act, because they have broken His law. He admires all the precepts and hates every false way.
Psalms 119:121
"I have done judgment and justice." This was a great thing for an Eastern ruler to say at any time, for these despots mostly cared more for gain than justice. Some of them altogether neglected their duty, and would not even do judgment at all, preferring their pleasures to their duties; and many more of them sold their judgments to the highest bidders by taking bribes, or regarding the persons of men. Some rulers gave neither judgment nor justice, others gave judgment without justice, but David gave judgment and justice, and saw that his sentences were carried out.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
do not let the arrogant oppress me: Adam Clarke reads the verb, arab, as to stand surety or bail, and John Gill applies it to Christ as the surety of Hebrews 7. Clarke also notes that verses 121 and 122 carry none of the ten words for God's law. The servant asks God to stand bail.
My eyes fail, looking for Your salvation: The eyes wear out from watching the road for help, the same failing eyes of verse 82. What they watch for is salvation and the righteous promise, the rescue God said He would give. The wait is long, and the promise stays in view.
Psalms 119:123
"Mine eyes fail for thy salvation." He wept, waited, and watched for God's saving hand, and these exercises tried the eyes of his faith till they were almost ready to give out. He looked to God alone, he looked eagerly, he looked long, he looked till his eyes ached. The mercy is, that if our eyes fail, God does not fail, nor do his eyes fail. Eyes are tender things, and so are our faith, hope and expectancy: the Lord will not try them above what they are able to bear.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:123
“The word - For the performance of thy faithful or merciful promise.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Psalms 119:123
“Mine eyes fail for thy salvation - See the notes at Psa 119:81-82. And for the word of thy righteousness - Thy righteous word - that it may be made known to me, and that I may see its beauty and enjoy it.”
Psalms 119:123
“Mine eyes fail - See on Psa 119:82 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
according to Your loving devotion: After pleading his just conduct in verse 121, the psalmist asks to be dealt with by God's loving devotion, covenant love the Hebrew calls chesed. The first request under that love is teaching. Mercy is asked before instruction.
Psalms 119:124
"Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy." Here he recollects himself: although before men he was so clear that he could challenge the word of righteousness, yet before the Lord, as his servant, he felt that he must appeal to mercy. We feel safest here. Our heart has more rest in the cry, "God be merciful to me," than in appealing to justice. It is well to be able to say, "I have done judgment and justice," and then to add in all lowliness, yet "deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy."
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:124
“In connection with this he goes on to say, "O deal with Your servant according to Your loving mercy" [Psalm 119:124]; not according to my righteousness. "And teach me," he says, "Your righteousnesses;" those beyond doubt, whereby God renders men righteous, not they themselves.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:124
“Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy - Not according to justice - for, sinners as we are, we can never urge that as a plea before God. No man who knows himself could ask of God to deal with him according to the strict and stern principles of justice. But we may ask him to deal with us according to mercy - for mercy is our only plea, and the mercy of God - vast and boundless - constitutes such a ground of appeal as we need.”
I am Your servant; give me understanding: The servant already had the testimonies in writing, and he asks for understanding so that he may know them. Reading the words and knowing them are two separate gifts. A servant asks to have his orders made clear.
Psalms 119:125
“The blessed David asks the Lord for that very understanding by which he can recognize God's commands, which he well knew were written in the book of the law, when he says "I am your servant: O give me understanding that I may learn your commandments." Certainly he was in possession of understanding, which had been granted to him by nature, and also had at his fingers' ends a knowledge of God's commands which were preserved in writing in the law.”
John Cassian · written before 435 · CONFERENCE 3:15patristic
It is time for the LORD to act: The lawbreaking has grown so open that the psalmist names the moment for God to intervene. John Gill reads the verse of the Messiah and records the Jewish expectation that He would come in a time of great wickedness. Heavy sin marks the hour.
Therefore I love Your commandments: The therefore follows from verse 126, and Gill reads it so: the more the wicked made void the law, the more his love was inflamed. Gill notes that the purest gold may be gold of Phez, a place thought to yield the best. Contempt from others deepened his love.
Psalms 119:127
“Therefore I love thy commandments,.... Because he was the Lord's servant, as Aben Ezra; or rather because the wicked made void the law. His love was the more inflamed and increased towards it by the contempt it was had in by others; he preferred it above gold, yea, above fine gold; or gold of Phez, a place where the best gold was, as was thought: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it "the topaz"; and the Syriac and Arabic versions, "precious stones" or "gems"; see Psa 119:72.”
Therefore I admire all Your precepts: The Hebrew sets the word all twice, and Clarke notes the versions except the Chaldee read it once, as walking straight in all the precepts. Clarke calls every false way crooked. The second therefore of the stanza turns love into hatred of the lie.
Psalms 119:128
“All thy precepts concerning all things to be right - There are too many supplied words here to leave the text unsuspected. All the ancient versions, except the Chaldee, seem to have omitted the second כל col, All and read the text thus: “Therefore I have walked straight in all thy precepts.” I go straight on in all thy precepts, hating every false way. I neither turn to the right hand nor to the left; the false ways are crooked; thy way is straight. I am going to heaven, and that way lies straight before me.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Pe
In the pictographic reading this letter represents a mouth and what is spoken.
Verses 129 to 136
Calls the testimonies wonderful, asks for ordered steps, and weeps over the law men break.
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Psalms 119:129-136
Wonderful are Your testimonies: The unfolding of the words gives light and informs the simple, so the light comes at the word's first opening. He asks for ordered steps and no sin ruling him. The last verse has tears running over a law men do not keep.
Psalms 119:129
“פ, PE.--The Seventeenth Part. PE. Thy testimonies are wonderful,.... The Scriptures, which testify of God, his mind and will, are wonderful both with respect to the author of them, the things contained in them, and the use and advantage of them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:129
"Thy commands are wonderful." Full of wonderful revelations, commands and promises. Wonderful in their nature, as being free from all error, and bearing within themselves overwhelming self evidence of their truth; wonderful in their effects as instructing, elevating, strengthening, and comforting the soul. Jesus the eternal Word is called Wonderful, and all the uttered words of God are wonderful in their degree. Those who know them best wonder at them most.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
The unfolding of Your words gives light: Gill takes the unfolding as the beginning of the words and points to Genesis, where creation, the fall and the promised seed already give light. The simple are the untaught, the people Psalm 19:7 says the testimony makes wise. Light reaches the plainest reader.
Psalms 119:130
“God's words, as an open door, let in light, or knowledge. Rather, as HENGSTENBERG explains it, "The opening up," or, "explanation of thy word." To the natural man the doors of God's Word are shut. Eph 1:18, confirm this view, "opening (that is, explaining) and alleging," &c. unto the simple--those needing or desiring it (compare Ps 19:7).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:130
“The entrance of thy words giveth light,.... The beginning of them; the first three chapters in Genesis, what light do they give into the origin of all things; the creation of man, his state of innocence; his fall through the temptations of Satan, and his recovery and salvation by Christ, the seed of the woman, the first principles of the oracles of God, the rudiments of religion, the elements of the world, the rites of the ceremonial law, gave great light into Gospel mysteries.”
I open my mouth and pant: The picture is a man or an animal gasping for air or water after a hard run. The longing of verse 20 consumed the soul, and here it opens the mouth wide. The commandments are what he gasps for.
Psalms 119:131
“LAST Lord's-Day we spoke about being in the fear of God all the day long and I am afraid some thought, "The pastor has set a very high standard before us—not too high, but still far above what we have been able to reach." I know that many desires after holiness were excited and many longings of heart went up to Heaven. It ought to be so as soon as the Truth of God is received into the mind. Note the context—"The entrance of Your Word gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple."”
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:131
“This is confessed by this little one; "I opened my mouth," he says, "and drew in the spirit: for I longed for Your commandments" [Psalm 119:131]. What did he long for, save to obey the divine commandments?”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:131
“I opened my mouth, and panted,.... As a person out of breath does, through walking or running; he stops and pants, and opens his mouth, to draw in air to his relief: or as hungry and thirsty persons pant for food and drink, and open their mouths to receive it, before it can well be brought to them.”
Psalms 119:131
“I opened my mouth and panted - All this is the language of deep emotion. We breathe hard under the influence of such emotion; we open the mouth wide, and pant, as the ordinary passage for the air through the nostrils is not sufficient to meet the needs of the lungs in their increased action. The idea is, that his heart was full; that he had such an intense desire as to produce deep and rapid breathing; that he was like one who was exhausted, and who “panted” for breath. Compare the notes at Psa 42:1.”
Psalms 119:131
“I opened my mouth, and panted - A metaphor taken from an animal exhausted in the chase. He runs, open-mouthed, to take in the cooling air; the heart beating high, and the muscular force nearly expended through fatigue. The psalmist sought for salvation, as he would run from a ferocious beast for his life. Nothing can show his earnestness in a stronger point of view.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Turn to me and show me mercy: The request asks for the treatment God gives to those who love His name, the ordinary way He deals with His people. John Gill says the look is asked for as one in Christ, clothed with His righteousness, and as special grace. The psalmist asks to be treated like family.
Psalms 119:132
“Look thou upon me,.... Not as in himself; a sinful creature will not bear looking upon by the Lord, especially with the strict eye of justice; but as in Christ, and clothed with his righteousness; and so not merely in a providential way, though that is a favour, but in a way of special grace and mercy.”
let no sin rule over me: Spurgeon reads the verse as the prayer of a man saved, pointing to verse 132, where the psalmist counts among those who love God's name. Ordered steps are the request of one who belongs. Paul promises the same freedom at Romans 6:14.
Psalms 119:133
“This is not the prayer of an unconverted man, or the cry of an awakened sinner foolishly expecting to find salvation in good works. It is the prayer of one who is saved and who knows it. The verse preceding the text shows this, for he asks to be mercifully dealt with as the Lord is accustomed to do unto those that love His name. He therefore is confident that he is one of those—that he is a partaker of Divine favor—and has the evidence of this in his love to the name of the Lord.”
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:133
“His hope of deliverance from external oppression of man (Ps 119:34) is founded on his deliverance from the internal "dominion of iniquity," in answer to his prayer (Ps 119:33).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Redeem me from the oppression of man: Redeem is the language of buying back a person held by another, the work of a kinsman, and of God at the exodus. Oppression by man keeps him from free obedience, and release is asked so that the precepts may be kept. Freedom is for service.
Psalms 119:134
“Deliver me from the oppression of man - From constraint on the part of man, so that I may be free to act as I please. Give me true religious liberty, and let me not be under any compulsion or constraint. The word rendered “deliver” is that which is usually rendered “redeem.” It is used here in the large sense of deliverance; and the prayer is an expression of what the true friends of religion have always sought, desired, and demanded - “freedom” of opinion - the richest blessing which man can enjoy.”
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:134
“Deliver me from the oppression of man,.... Of any man, of proud and haughty men, as in Psa 119:122; the psalmist always desired rather to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of wicked men, whose tender mercies are cruel.”
Psalms 119:134
“But what means this that he says, "O deliver me from the calumnies of men: so shall I keep Your commandments"? [Psalm 119:134]...Did not the holy people of God much the more gloriously keep the commandments among these very calumnies, when they were at their hottest in the midst of tribulations, when they yielded not to their persecutors to commit impieties?”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:134
"Deliver me from the oppression of man." David had tasted all the bitterness of this great evil. It had made him an exile from his country, and banished him from the sanctuary of the Lord: therefore he pleads to be saved from it. It is said that oppression makes a wise man mad, and no doubt it has made many a righteous man sinful. Oppression is in itself wicked, and it drives men to wickedness.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Make Your face shine upon Your servant: The words come from the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:25, spoken over Israel by Aaron and his sons. The psalmist takes the blessing for himself and asks that the light of God's face come with teaching. God's favor and God's statutes arrive together.
Psalms 119:135
"Make thy face to shine upon thy servant." Oppressors frown, but do thou smile. They darken my life, but do thou shine upon me, and all will be bright. The Psalmist again declares that he is God's servant, and he seeks for no favour from others, but only from his own Lord and Master. "And teach me thy statutes." This is the favour which he considers to be the shining of the face of God upon him.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:135
"Show the light of Your countenance on Your servant, and teach me your statutes" [Psalm 119:135]: that is, manifest Your presence, by succouring and aiding me. "And teach me Your righteousnesses." Teach me to work them: as it is more plainly expressed elsewhere, "Teach me to do Your will." For they who hear, although they retain in their memories what they hear, are by no means to be considered to have learned, unless they do. For it is the word of Truth: "Every man that has heard and has learned of the Father, comes unto Me."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:135
“Make thy face to shine upon thy servant - Hebrew, “Let thy face give light to thy servant.” See the notes at Psa 4:6. And teach me thy statutes - See the notes at Psa 119:12.”
Psalms 119:135
“Make thy face to shine - Give me a sense of thy approbation. Let me know, by the testimony of thy Spirit in my conscience, that thou art reconciled to me. The godly in all ages derived their happiness from a consciousness of the Divine favor. The witness of God’s spirit in the souls of believers was an essential principle in religion from the foundation of the world.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
My eyes shed streams of tears: John Gill calls the streams of tears an overstatement that measures the grief, and sets it beside Lamentations 3:48. The Hebrew phrase, streams of water, is the one that waters the tree of Psalm 1:3. Here the water is grief.
Psalms 119:136
“Rivers of waters run down mine eyes,.... That is, "out of" them; as the Syriac version: or, "mine eyes let down rivers of waters" (t); see Lam 3:48; that is, an abundance of tears, which flowed like a river; an hyperbolical expression, setting forth the excessiveness of grief.”
Tsade
In the pictographic reading this letter represents catching and what is drawn in.
Verses 137 to 144
Declares God righteous and His promise pure, and holds both while trouble finds him.
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Psalms 119:137-144
Righteous are You, O LORD: God's righteousness is stated first, then the testimonies are called righteous and altogether faithful. Zeal consumes him because his foes forget the words, a grief carried for someone else's sin. He is lowly and despised, and he still remembers the precepts.
Psalms 119:137
“This passage deals with the perfect righteousness of Jehovah and his word, and expresses the struggles of a holy soul in reference to that righteousness. The initial letter with which every verse commences in the Hebrew is "P," and the keyword to us is PURITY. "Righteous art thou, O LORD" The Psalmist has not often used the name of Jehovah in this vast composition.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
The testimonies You have laid down are righteous: Testimonies are the terms God set down as His own witness, and what He commanded carries His character. The word for faithful here, emunah, is the steady reliability of something that can bear weight. The testimonies hold when leaned on.
Psalms 119:138
"Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful." All that which God hath testified in his word is right and truthful. It is righteous, and may be relied upon for the present; it is faithful, and may be trusted in for the future. About every portion of the inspired testimonies there is a divine authority, they are issued and published by God's command, and they bear the impress of the royal style which carries omnipotence about it.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:138
“Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous,.... The Scriptures are holy, just, and good; and what is contained in them are according to godliness; are for instruction in righteousness, and teach men to live soberly, righteously, and godly; and very faithful; or "true" (u): all the sayings in them are true and faithful sayings; for they are the sayings of God that cannot lie; the promises in them are faithfully performed by him that made them; they are all yea and amen in Christ.”
Psalms 119:138
“Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded - Thy law, considered as a testimony as to what is right and best. Are righteous and very faithful - Margin, as in Hebrew, “righteousness and faithfulness.” They are “so” righteous, and so deserving of confidence - so certain to be accomplished, and so worthy to be trusted in - that they may be spoken of as “righteousness” and “fidelity” of the most perfect kind; the very essence of that which is right.”
Psalms 119:138
“Thy testimonies - Every thing that proceeds from thee partakes of the perfections of thy nature.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
My zeal has consumed me: Zeal consuming the one who has it appears also in Psalm 69:9, and John 2:17 applies that line to Jesus clearing the temple. Here the fire is lit by foes who forget God's words. Zeal is love for God's honor, set on fire.
Psalms 119:139
“In the last two verses David spoke concerning his God and his law; here he speaks of himself, and says, "My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words:" this was no doubt occasioned by his having so clear a sense of the admirable character of God's word. His zeal was like a fire burning within his soul. The sight of man's forgetfulness of God acted as a fierce blast to excite the fire to a more vehement flame, and it blazed until it was ready to consume him.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:139
“My zeal hath consumed me,.... Zeal for God and his glory, for his word and ordinances and worship; which is a fervour of the mind, burning love, and flaming affections for God, shown in a holy indignation against sin and sinners.”
Psalms 119:139
“But what is it that followeth: "My zeal hath caused me to pine" (ver. 139); or, as other copies read, Thy zeal? Others have also, "The zeal of Thy house:" and, "hath eaten me up," instead of, "hath caused me to pine." This, as it seems to me, has been considered as an emendation to be introduced from another Psalm, where it is written, "The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up:" a text quoted also, as we know, in the Gospel. The two words, however, "hath caused me to pine," and "hath eaten me up," are somewhat like.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:139
“My zeal hath consumed me - Margin, “cut me off.” The word which is here translated “consumed” is rendered “cut off” in Lam 3:53; Job 23:17; Psa 54:5; Psa 88:16; Psa 94:23; Psa 101:5; Psa 143:12; “vanish,” Job 6:17; “destroyed,” Psa 73:27; 2Sa 22:41; Psa 18:40; Psa 101:8; Psa 69:4. It means here, that he pined away; that his strength was exhausted; that he was sinking under the efforts which he had put forth as expressive of his deep interest in the cause of God and of truth. On the sentiment here expressed, see the notes at Psa 69:9.”
Psalms 119:139
“My zeal hath consumed me - My earnest desire to promote thy glory, and the pain I feel at seeing transgressions multiplied, have worn down both my flesh and spirits.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Your promise is completely pure: The word pure is the refiner's word, metal tried in the fire until the dross is gone, as at Psalm 12:6 and Psalm 18:30. The promise has been tested, and nothing false remains in it. Its purity is the reason for love.
Psalms 119:140
“Do you want me to show you how the fire goes out from the words of the Holy Spirit and ignites the hearts of believers? Hear David speaking in the psalm: "The declaration of the Lord has set him on fire." And again in the Gospel it was written, after the Lord spoke to Cleopas, "Was not our heart burning within us when he opened the Scriptures to us?" Whence will you burn?”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Leviticus 9:9.7patristic
I am lowly and despised: Albert Barnes notes the word for lowly can mean few in number, young in years or low in rank, and leaves open which one fits. Any of the three could leave a man counted of little account and open to ridicule. Each one invites contempt.
Psalms 119:141
“I am small and despised - The word here rendered “small” may mean “small” in respect to number - that is, “few,” Mic 5:2; Isa 60:22; or in respect to age - “young,” Gen 19:31; or in respect to dignity - “low;” least in rank or esteem. The language here may be applied to the church as comparatively few; to one who is young; or to one in humble life. Either of these may be a reason why one is regarded as of little consequence, or may be subject to reproach and ridicule.”
Your righteousness is everlasting: The righteousness of verse 137 is now given duration: it lasts forever. John Gill includes in it God's faithfulness to His promises and the righteousness revealed in the gospel, imputed to the one who believes. Imputed means counted to his account.
Psalms 119:142
“Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,.... Or, "is for ever" (z). The rectitude of his nature, his faithfulness in his promises, and his kindness and beneficence to his people; and particularly the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel; the righteousness of his Son, which he approves and accepts of, and imputes to him that believes.”
Trouble and distress have found me: Trouble and distress are pictured as pursuers that track a man down and find him. Delight stands in the same verse, and the commandments supply it while the trouble remains. Joy and distress share one line.
Psalms 119:143
For this is the divine promise: "The Lord shall fight for you." Henceforth, although afflictions and trials from without overtake them, yet, being fashioned after the apostolic words and "being steadfast in tribulations and persevering in prayers" and in meditation on the law, they stand against those things that befall them, are well-pleasing to God and give utterance to the words that are written, "Afflictions and distresses are come on me, but your commandments are my meditation."
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Festal Letters 11:6patristic
Give me understanding, that I may live: The tsade stanza closes where it began, on righteousness, now said of the testimonies forever. The prayer that follows ties understanding to life itself. To grasp the word is to live.
Psalms 119:144
"The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting." First he had said that God's testimonies were righteous, then that they were everlasting, and now that their righteousness is everlasting. Thus he gives us a larger and more detailed account of the word of God the longer he is engaged in writing upon it. The more we say in praise of holy writ, the more we may say and the more we can say.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:144
"Thy testimonies are righteousness unto everlasting: O grant me understanding, and I shall live" (ver. 144). This younger one prayeth for understanding; which if he had not, he would not be "wiser than the aged;" but he prayeth for it in trouble and hardships, that he may thereby understand how contemptible is all that his persecuting enemies can take from him, by whom he saith he hath been despised.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:144
“The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting - Thy moral law was not made for one people, or for one particular time; it is as imperishable as thy nature, and of endless obligation. It is that law by which all the children of Adam shall be Judged. Give me understanding - To know and practice it. And I shall live - Shall glorify thee, and live eternally; not for the merit of having done it, but because thou didst fulfill the work of the law in my heart, having saved me from condemnation by it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:144
“The righteousness of thy testimonies - The principles of righteousness on which they are founded. Those testimonies - those laws - are not arbitrary, or the mere expressions of will. They are founded on right and justice as seen by God, and his laws are his testimony as to what truth and justice are. Is everlasting - See the notes at Psa 119:142. Give me understanding, and I shall live - Give me a right view of thy law, and thy truth, and I shall have real life. See the notes at Psa 119:34.”
Qof
In the pictographic reading this letter represents a narrow opening and what is behind.
Verses 145 to 152
Calls out before dawn and through the watches of the night as the wicked draw near.
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Psalms 119:145-152
I call with all my heart: The praying runs from before dawn into the night watches. Verse 150 has those who follow wickedness drawing near, and verse 151 has the LORD near with all His commandments true. Verse 152 says the testimonies were established long ago.
Psalms 119:145
“ק, KOPH.--The Nineteenth Part. KOPH. I cried with my whole heart,.... Prayer is often expressed by crying; which sometimes signifies mental, and sometimes vocal prayer; and generally supposes the person praying to be in distress, either outward or inward.”
I call to You; save me: Verse 145 called with the whole heart, and verse 146 directs the call to God Himself with a single request for rescue. The rescue has a purpose, the keeping of the testimonies. Deliverance is asked for obedience.
Psalms 119:146
“I cried unto thee - I called upon thee in trouble. Save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies - Margin, “That I may keep.” The correct rendering is, “I will keep.” The idea is, that if God would interpose and save him, he “would” henceforward faithfully keep the law of God: It is one of the designs of affliction to lead people to make such vows as this. They are commonly made on beds of sickness, alike by the religious and the irreligious; the saint and the sinner.”
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:146
"I have called, save me" (ver. 146) or as some copies, both Greek and Latin, have it "I have called to Thee." But what is, "I have called to Thee," save that by calling I have invoked Thee? But when he had said, "save me;" what did he add? "And I will keep Thy testimonies:" that is, that I may not, through infirmity, deny Thee.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:146
"I cried unto thee." Again he mentions that his prayer was unto God alone. The sentence imports that he prayed vehemently, and very often; and that it had become one of the greatest facts of his life that he cried unto God. "Save me." This was his prayer; very short, but very full. He needed saving, none but the Lord could save him, to him he cried, "Save me" from the dangers which surround me, from the enemies that pursue me, from the temptations which beset me, from the sins which accuse me.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
I rise before dawn and cry for help: The psalmist is up before the light, and the first act of his day is a cry for help. The Hebrew verb means to go before or to be early, and verse 148 uses the same verb for his eyes. Hope in the word gets him up.
Psalms 119:147
"I have prevented in midnight," he says, "and have cried: In Your words have I trusted" [Psalm 119:147]. If we refer this to each of the faithful, and to the literal character of the act; it oft happens that the love of God is awake in that hour of the night, and, the love of prayer strongly urging us, the time of prayer, which is wont to be after the crowing of the cock, is not awaited, but prevented.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
My eyes anticipate the watches of night: Albert Barnes explains the watches as military divisions of the night, and reads the psalmist as rising before each watch, to use it for devotion. Barnes names three: the early, the middle and the dawn. Each found him awake.
Psalms 119:148
“Mine eyes prevent the night watches - Luther renders this, “I wake up early.” The Hebrew word means a “watch” - a part of the night, so called from military watches, or a dividing of the night to “keep guard.” See the notes at Psa 90:4. The idea of the psalmist here is, that he anticipated these regular divisions of the night in order that he might engage in devotion. Instead of waiting for their return, he arose for prayer before they recurred - so much did his heart delight in the service of God.”
Hear my voice, O LORD: Two measures govern the request: God's loving devotion for the hearing, and His justice for the giving of life. Mercy and justice both work in the psalmist's favor here. Life is asked from both.
Psalms 119:149
"Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness." Men find it very helpful to use their voices in prayer; it is difficult long to maintain the intensity of devotion unless we hear ourselves speak; hence David at length broke through his silence, arose from his quiet meditations, and began crying with voice as well as heart unto the Lord his God. Note, that he does not plead his own deservings, nor for a moment appeal for payment of a debt on account of merit; he takes the free-grace way, and puts it, "according unto thy lovingkindness."
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:149
"Hear my voice, O Lord, according to Thy loving-mercy; and quicken Thou me according to Thy judgment" (ver. 149). For first God according to His loving-mercy taketh away punishment from sinners, and will give them life afterwards, when righteous, according to His judgment; for it is not without a meaning that it is said unto Him, "My song shall be of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Lord;" in this order of the terms: although the season of mercy itself be not without judgment, whereof the Apostle saith, "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of the…
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:149
“Hear my voice, according unto thy loving-kindness - According to thy mercy; thy goodness. Let that be the rule in answering me; not my deserts, or even the fervour of my prayers. We can desire no better rule in answer to our prayers. O Lord, quicken me - Give me life; cause me truly to live. See the notes at Psa 119:40. According to thy judgment - Thy law as a rule of judgment; thy revealed truth, with all its gracious promises.”
Those who follow after wickedness draw near: The persecutors come close to the psalmist while they stay far from the law. Their pursuit of wickedness and their distance from God's word are one motion. Nearness to harm him measures their distance from the law.
Psalms 119:150
"They draw nigh that follow after mischief." He could hear their footfalls close behind him. They are not following him for his benefit, but for his hurt, and therefore the sound of their approach is to be dreaded. They are not prosecuting a good object, but persecuting a good man. As if they had not enough mischief in their own hearts, they are hunting after more.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:150
"They draw near, that of malice persecute me:" or, as some copies read, "maliciously" [Psalm 119:150]. Then they that persecute draw near, when they go the length of torturing and destroying the flesh: whence the twenty-first Psalm, wherein the Lord's Passion is prophesied, says, "O go not from me, for trouble is hard at hand;" where those things are spoken of which He suffered when His Passion was not imminent upon Him, but actually realized. "And are far from Your law." The nearer they drew to the persecuting the righteous, so much the farther were they from righteousness.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:150
“They draw nigh that follow after mischief,.... Or "evil" (c); that which is sinful in itself, and injurious to others.”
Psalms 119:150
“They draw nigh - They are just at hand who seek to destroy me. They are far from thy law - They are near to all evil, but far from thee.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:150
“They draw nigh - They follow me; they press hard upon me. That follow after mischief - That seek to do me wrong. They are far from thy law - They yield no obedience to it; they are not influenced by it in their conduct toward me.”
You are near, O LORD: Against the lies told about him in verses 69 and 78, the psalmist sets the truth of every commandment. The enemies bring falsehood close to him, and God is closer still with His truth. His nearness and His truth arrive together.
Psalms 119:151
"Thou art near, O Lord." Near as the enemy might be, God was nearer: this is one of the choicest comforts of the persecuted child of God. The Lord is near to hear our cries, and to speedily afford us succour. He is near to chase away our enemies, and to give us rest and peace. "And all thy commandments are truth." God neither commands a lie, nor lies in his commands. Virtue is truth in action, and this is what God commands. Sin is falsehood in action, and this is what God forbids.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:151
“Lastly, it follows, "You are near at hand, O Lord, and all Your ways are truth" [Psalm 119:151]. Even in their troubles, it has been a wonted confession of the saints, to ascribe truth unto God, because they suffer them not undeservedly. So did Queen Esther, [Esther 14:6-7] so did holy Daniel, [Daniel 9:4, 16] so did the three men in the furnace, so do other associates in their sanctity confess.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:151
“Thou art near, O Lord - God was present with him; he was ready to hear his cry; he was at hand to save him. Compare Psa 145:18. The psalmist had the assurance, springing from deep feeling, and the conscious presence of God, which the people of God often have, that God is very near to them; that he is ready to hear them; that their prayers are answered; that they are in the presence of a heavenly Friend. Such are among the precious experiences of the life of a religious man.”
Psalms 119:151
“Thou art near - As they are near to destroy, so art thou near to save. When the enemy comes in as a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Long ago I learned from Your testimonies: The knowledge is old: the psalmist learned early that the testimonies were founded to last forever. The Qoph stanza ends where the Lamed stanza began at verse 89, with a word fixed forever. Long experience confirmed the first lesson.
Psalms 119:152
"Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever." David found of old that God had founded them of old, and that they would stand firm throughout all ages. It is a very blessed thing to be so early taught of God that we know substantial doctrines even from our youth.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:152
"From the beginning I have known," he saith, "as concerning Thy testimonies, that Thou hast grounded them for ever" (ver. 152). ...What are these testimonies, save those wherein God hath declared that He will give an everlasting kingdom unto His sons? And since He hath declared that He will give this in His only-begotten Son, he said that the testimonies themselves were grounded for ever. For that which God hath promised through them, was everlasting. And for this reason the words, "Thou hast grounded them," are rightly thus understood, because they are shown to be true in Christ.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:152
“Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old - קדם ידעתי kedem yedati, “Long ago I have known concerning thy testimonies.” Thou hast designed that thy testimonies should bear reference to, and evidence of, those glorious things which thou hast provided for the salvation of men; and that this should be an everlasting testimony. They continue, and Christ is come.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:152
“Concerning thy testimonies - In regard to all that thou hast testified to as true and best. Every command of God is in fact a testimony of his as to what is right; every promise is a testimony of his own purpose in regard to mankind. I have known of old - The word used here is a noun, and means properly, “the front,” what is “before;” then, the East; then, what pertains to olden time or ancient days - “before” the present.”
Resh
In the pictographic reading this letter represents a head, the first and the chief.
Verses 153 to 160
Asks God to look on his affliction, plead his cause, and give him life.
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Psalms 119:153-160
Look upon my affliction and rescue me: He asks God to look at the affliction and to defend his cause. Salvation stays far from the wicked, and the reason given is their own refusal to seek the statutes. The entirety of the word is truth, verse 160 says.
Defend my cause and redeem me: The verbs belong to the law court and the family: an advocate pleads a case, and a kinsman redeemer, the go'el, buys back a relative. Job 19:25 uses the same title for the Redeemer who lives. The psalmist asks God to be both.
Psalms 119:154
"Plead my cause, and deliver me." In the last verse he had prayed, "Deliver me, "and here he specifies one method in which that deliverance might be vouchsafed, namely, by the advocacy of his cause. In providence the Lord has many ways of clearing the slandered of the accusations brought against them. He can make it manifest to all that they have been belied, and in this way he can practically plead their cause.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:154
"Avenge Thou," he says, "my cause, and deliver me" [Psalm 119:154]. The former sentence is here almost repeated. And what is there said, "For I do not forget Your law," agrees with what we read here, "Quicken me, according to Your word." For these words are the law of God, which he has not forgot, so that he has abased himself, and will therefore be exalted. But the words, "Quicken me," pertain to this very exaltation; for the exaltation of the saints is everlasting life.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:154
“Plead my cause - ריבה ריבי ribah ribi. “Be my Advocate in my suit.” Contend for us against the Babylonians, and bring us out of our bondage. According to thy word - Spoken by thy prophets for our comfort and encouragement.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:154
“Plead my cause ... - Undertake my cause, as an advocate does. See the notes at Psa 35:1. Quicken me ... - Give me life. See the notes at Psa 119:25.”
Salvation is far from the wicked: Verse 151 put God near to the psalmist, and verse 155 sets salvation far from the wicked. Verse 2 blessed those who seek God with all their heart, and the wicked here leave the statutes unsought. Seeking decides the distance.
Psalms 119:155
"Salvation is far from the wicked." By their perseverance in evil they have almost put themselves out of the pale of hope. They talk about being saved, but they cannot have known anything of it or they would not remain wicked. Every step they have taken in the path of evil has removed them further from the kingdom of grace: they go from one degree of hardness to another till their hearts become as stone. When they fall into trouble it will be irremediable.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:155
"Health," he says, "is far from the ungodly: for they regard not Your righteousnesses" [Psalm 119:155]. This separates you, that what they have not done, you have done, that is, you have regarded the righteousnesses of God. But "what have you that you have not received?" [1 Corinthians 4:7] Are you not he who a little before said, "I will keep Your righteousnesses"? Thou therefore hast received from Him, unto whom you called, the power to keep them. He therefore does Himself separate you from those from whom health is far, because they have not regarded the righteousnesses of God.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:155
“Salvation is far from the wicked - There is no hope of their conversion. For they seek not thy statutes - And they who do not seek, shall not find.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Psalms 119:155
“Salvation is far from the wicked - That is, (a) in their present course: they are very far from being safe, or from having a prospect of salvation; (b) they are constantly going farther and farther off - making their salvation less probable - not going toward heaven, but from it. (c) Destruction is very near to them, and they are constantly making it nearer and nearer. (d) In their present course it may be said that salvation is far - is infinitely remote - from them, so that they can never come to it.”
Great are Your mercies, O LORD: Mercies here is rachamim, the tender compassion of a parent, from the Hebrew word for the womb. The measure of reviving asked in this verse is the ordinances, God's own rulings. His tenderness and His order work together.
Psalms 119:156
“This verse is exceedingly like verse one hundred and forty nine, and yet it is no vain repetition. There is such a difference in the main idea that the one verse stands out distinct from the other. In the first case he mentions his prayer, but leaves the method of its accomplishment with the wisdom or judgment of God; while here he pleads no prayer of his own, but simply the mercies of the Lord, and begs to be quickened by judgments rather than to be left to spiritual lethargy.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:156
“This he saw himself also. For I should not see it, save I saw it in Him, save I were in Him. For these are the words of the Body of Christ, whose members we are. He saw this, I say, and at once added, "Great are Your mercies, O Lord" [Psalm 119:156]. Even our seeking out Your righteousnesses, then, comes of Your mercies. "Quicken me according to Your judgment." For I know that Your judgments will not be upon me without Your mercy.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:156
“Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord - They are many, or multiplied. The word rendered “tender mercies” is the same which occurs in Psa 40:11; Psa 51:1; Psa 69:16; Psa 79:8; Psa 103:4. See the notes at Psa 25:6. Quicken me ... - See Psa 119:149.”
Psalms 119:156
“Great are thy tender mercies - They are רבים rabbim, multitudes. They extend to all the wretchednesses of all men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
my persecutors and foes are many: The word for many in this verse is the word for great in verse 156. God's mercies are great and the persecutors are many, and the psalmist sets the one against the other. The testimonies kept him in place.
Psalms 119:157
"Many are my persecutors and mine enemies." Those who actually assail me, or who secretly abhor me, are many. He sets this over against the many tender mercies of God. It seems a strange thing that a truly godly man, as David was, should have many enemies; but it is inevitable. The disciple cannot be loved where his Master is hated. The seed of the serpent must oppose the seed of the woman: it is their nature. "Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies."
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:157
"Many there are that trouble me, and persecute me; yet do I not swerve from Your testimonies" [Psalm 119:157]. This has been realized: we know it, we recollect it, we acknowledge it. The whole earth has been crimsoned by the blood of Martyrs; heaven is flowery with the crowns of Martyrs, the Churches are adorned with the memorials of Martyrs, seasons distinguished by the birthdays of Martyrs, cures more frequent by the merits of Martyrs. Whence this, save because that has been fulfilled which was prophesied of that Man who has been spread abroad around the whole world.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:157
“Many are my persecutors and mine enemies - The thought here turns on the number of his enemies, and on the effect which numbers might have in turning one from the way of truth. We might meet one such enemy, and overcome him; we might resist the influence of one in endeavoring to turn us away from the truth, but the danger of falling is much increased when numbers are combined in persecuting us, or in seeking to turn us away from our religion - when it becomes unpopular to be a professed friend of God.”
I look on the faithless with loathing: The Hebrew word for the faithless, bogdim, names traitors who break faith with their lord. Verse 136 wept over the broken law, and here the same sight turns the stomach. His loathing is loyalty to God.
Psalms 119:158
"I beheld the transgressors." I saw the traitors; I understood their character, their object, their way, and their end. I could not help seeing them, for they pushed themselves into my way. As I was obliged to see them I fixed my eyes on them, to learn what I could from them. "And was grieved." I was sorry to see such sinners. I was sick of them, disgusted with them, I could not endure them. I found no pleasure in them, they were a sad sight to me, however fine their clothing or witty their chattering.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:158
"I have seen," he says, "the foolish, and I pined" [Psalm 119:158]: or, as other copies read, "I have seen them that keep not covenant:" this is the reading of most. But who are they who have not kept covenant, save they who have swerved from the testimonies of God, not bearing the tribulation of their many persecutors? Now this is the covenant, that he who shall have conquered shall be crowned. They who, not bearing persecution, have by denial swerved from the testimonies of God, have not kept the covenant.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:158
“I beheld the transgressors - Those who wronged me; those who violated the law of God. And was grieved - Or, “sickened.” The word used here means commonly to loathe, to nauseate, to sicken. Eze 16:47; Psa 95:10. I was made sad, sorry, sick at heart. I did not look on them with anger; I did not desire to take revenge upon them; I did not return evil for evil. My heart was sad that people would do wrong; that they would expose themselves to such danger. See the notes at Psa 119:136.”
Psalms 119:158
“I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved - Literally, I was affected with anguish.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Consider how I love Your precepts: Two loves meet in the verse: the psalmist asks God to consider his love for the precepts, and he asks life from God's loving devotion. Charles Spurgeon counted the prayer for quickening, being made alive, nine times in this psalm. Here it rests on God's love.
Psalms 119:159
"Consider," or see, "how I love thy precepts." A second time he asks for consideration. As he said before, "Consider mine affliction," so now he says, "Consider mine affection." He loved the precepts of God—loved them unspeakably loved them so as to be grieved with those who did not love them. This is a sure test: many there are who have a warm side towards the promises, but as for the precepts, they cannot endure them. The Psalmist so loved everything that was good and excellent that he loved all God had commanded.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:159
“Consider how I love thy precepts,.... How ardently and affectionately, how cordially and sincerely, Psa 119:127; and that was the reason why he was so grieved and distressed when wicked men transgressed and despised them; quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness; See Gill on Psa 119:88.”
Psalms 119:159
“And he commends himself as differing from them, and says, "Behold, how I have loved Your commandments" [Psalm 119:159]. He says not, I have not denied Your words or testimonies, as the Martyrs were urged to do, and, when they refused, suffered intolerable torments: but he said this wherein is the fruit of all sufferings; for, "if I give up my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing." [1 Corinthians 13:3] The Psalmist, praising this virtue, says, "Behold, how I have loved Your commandments."”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:159
“Consider how I love thy precepts - Search me. Behold the evidence of my attachment to thy law. This is the confident appeal of one who was conscious that he was truly attached to God; that he really loved his law. It is similar to the appeal of Peter to the Saviour Joh 21:17, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” A man who truly loves God may make this appeal without impropriety.”
The entirety of Your word is truth: The Hebrew word behind entirety, rosh, means head, and it can be read as the sum or as the beginning of the word. John Gill takes it as the beginning and counts every promise made from Adam in Eden onward as true and performed. The judgments last to the end.
Psalms 119:160
“God has been ever faithful, and the principles of His government will ever continue worthy of confidence. from the beginning--that is, "every word from Genesis (called so by the Jews from its first words, 'In the beginning') to the end of the Scriptures is true." HENGSTENBERG translates more literally, "The sum of thy words is truth." The sense is substantially the same.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Shin
In the pictographic reading this letter represents consuming and what presses.
Verses 161 to 168
Rejoices in the promise like a man who finds spoil, and praises seven times a day.
Open the stanzaClose the stanza
Psalms 119:161-168
Rulers persecute me without cause: Rulers persecute him without cause, and his heart fears only the word. Joy comes like plunder found, seven times a day he praises, and peace belongs to those who love the law. Verse 168 says all his ways are before God.
Psalms 119:161
Instead of fearing his persecutors, he fears God's Word alone (Lu 12:4, 5). The Jews inscribe in the first page of the great Bible (Ge 28:17), "How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
like one who finds great spoil: Spoil is plunder taken after a battle, wealth carried off from a defeated enemy. John Gill, following Kimchi, sets the joy chiefly in understanding the word, and he calls it a treasure only some are given. The finder carries off riches.
Psalms 119:162
“I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. At having it, which is a distinguishing blessing; all are not favoured with it; and is an inestimable treasure, a field in which a treasure lies; which those that find rejoice at, and especially at the understanding of it, as Kimchi notes: for such only delight in it who spiritually understand it, or have an application of it to them; find it, and eat it, and then it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts.”
I hate and abhor falsehood: The Hebrew opens on sheqer, falsehood, carrying the stanza's letter, and two verbs of hatred are set against it. Verse 160 called the whole word truth, and the lie is its opposite. Love of the law brings hatred of lies.
Psalms 119:163
“Obtain the same thing for yourself and strive to advance toward it; for it is able to raise you from earth to heaven. You will not advance in it without preparation or [solely] by chance. First cleanse your soul of every passion and wipe it as clean of every evil as a newly cleansed mirror. Remove far from you every recollection of wrong and anger, which most of all prevents our daily prayers from reaching God. Also remove from your heart the offenses of everyone who has ever sinned against you.”
John Damascene · written before 749 · Barlaam and Joseph 20:175-76patristic
Seven times a day I praise You: Seven is the number of fullness in Scripture, and the praise fills the day. Daniel prayed three times a day at Daniel 6:10, and here the count reaches seven. Praise answers the righteous judgments.
Psalms 119:164
“Frequent prayer also commends us to God. For if the prophet says, "Seven times a day have I praised you," though he was busy with the affairs of a kingdom, what ought we to do, who read, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation"? Certainly our customary prayers ought to be said with giving of thanks, when we rise from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to receive food, after receiving it and at the hour of incense, when at last we are going to rest.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Concerning Virginity 3.4.18patristic
Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law: John Gill notes that the Targum adds the words in this world, and he names the peace as peace of conscience and peace in Christ. The second half promises sure footing to those who love the law. The Hebrew word, mikhshol, names the obstacle that trips a walker.
Psalms 119:165
“Great peace have they which love thy law,.... The Targum adds, "in this world.'' Great prosperity, especially prosperity of soul, inward peace, peace of conscience, peace in Christ, and from him, flowing from his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and a view of interest therein; which is usually enjoyed in a way of believing, and frequently had in the ways, worship, and ordinances of God.”
I wait for Your salvation, O LORD: Waiting and doing stand in one verse: the psalmist hopes for salvation and carries out the commandments in the meantime. The hope is active. Obedience fills the time before the rescue arrives.
Psalms 119:166
"I have waited," he saith, "for Thy saving health, O Lord, and have loved Thy commandments" (ver. 166). For what would it have profited the righteous of old to have loved the commandments of God, save Christ, who is the saving health of God, had freed them; by the gift of whose Spirit also they were able to love the commandments of God? If therefore they who loved God's commandments, waited for His saving health; how much more necessary was Jesus, that is, the saving Health of God, for the salvation of those that did not love His commandments?
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · On the Psalms, Psalm 119patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:166
"Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments." Here we have salvation by grace, and the fruits thereof. All David's hope was fixed upon God, he looked to him alone for salvation; and then he endeavoured most earnestly to fulfil the commands of his law. Those who place least reliance upon good works are very frequently those who have the most of them; that same divine teaching which delivers us from confidence in our own doings leads us to abound in every good work to the glory of God.
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:166
“Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation - As a prevailing habit or principle in my life. I have looked to thee for deliverance in the time of danger; I have looked to thee for salvation in the world to come. And done thy commandments - That is, habitually. This is not, necessarily, a claim to absolute perfection.”
Psalms 119:166
“Lord, I have hoped - Thou hast promised deliverance, and I have expected it on the ground of that promise.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I obey Your testimonies: The Hebrew says his soul has kept the testimonies, so the obedience is inward before it is outward. Love follows, and it is marked greatly. Keeping and loving come from one heart.
Psalms 119:167
“My soul hath kept thy testimonies,.... The word of God, which he kept cordially and heartily; and in his heart, laid it up there; and with his whole soul observed the doctrines and kept the precepts of it; and I love them exceedingly; and kept them from a principle of love, and not with mercenary and selfish views; and this love was exceeding great, not cold nor lukewarm, but ardent and fervent, love in the superlative degree.”
4 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:167
"My soul hath kept thy testimonies." My outward life has kept thy precepts, and my inward life—my soul, has kept thy testimonies. God has borne testimony to many sacred truths, and these we hold fast as for life itself. The gracious man stores up the truth of God within his heart as a treasure exceedingly dear and precious—he keeps it. His secret soul, his inmost self, becomes the guardian of these divine teachings which are his sole authority in soul matters. "And I love them exceedingly."
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:167
"My soul hath kept Thy testimonies, and I have loved them exceedingly:" or, as some copies read, "hath loved them," understanding, "my soul" (ver. 167). The testimonies of God are kept, while they are not denied. This is the office of Martyrs, for testimonies are called Martyria in Greek. But since it profiteth nothing, even to be burnt with flames without charity, he addeth, "and I have loved them exceedingly." ...For he who loveth, keepeth them in the Spirit of truth and faithfulness.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · On the Psalms, Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:167
“My soul hath kept thy testimonies, and I love them exeeedingly - I am conscious of loving them; I feel an inward assurance that I do love them.”
Psalms 119:167
“My soul hath kept - I have not attended to the latter merely, but my spirit has entered into the spirit and design of thy testimonies.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
for all my ways are before You: Spurgeon set this verse beside verse 176, where the man confesses straying, and called the two a paradox true of one man at one time. The keeping is real, and so is the wandering. Both are spoken before God.
Psalms 119:168
IF anyone says that these two texts contradict one another, I say that they do not. They form a paradox and they are both true, and true of the same man, at the same time. I will read them to you again. "I have kept Your precepts and Your testimonies: for all my ways are before You." "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant; for I do not forget Your commandments."
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2671: “A Sincere Summary—and a Searching Scrutiny” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Taw
In the pictographic reading this letter represents a mark and the sign set on a thing.
Verses 169 to 176
Brings his cry and his plea before God, then closes as a strayed sheep asking to be sought.
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Psalms 119:169-176
May my cry come before You: The last asking is to be heard, the cry before God and the plea after it. His lips pour out praise and his tongue sings of the word. The psalm ends on a stray sheep asking to be sought.
Psalms 119:169
“The Psalmist is approaching the end of the psalm, and his petitions gather force and fervency; he seems to break into the inner circle of divine fellowship, and to come even to the feet of the great God whose help he is imploring this nearness creates the most lowly mew of himself, and leads him to close the psalm upon his face in deepest self humiliation, begging to be sought out like a lost sheep. Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD. He is tremblingly afraid lest he should not be heard.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:169
Let us now hear the words of one praying: since we know who is praying, and we recognise ourselves, if we be not reprobate, among the members of this one praying. "Let my prayer come near in Thy sight, O Lord" (ver. 169): for, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart." "Give me understanding, according to Thy word." He claimeth a promise. For he saith, "according to Thy word," which is to say, according to Thy promise. For the Lord promised this when He said, "I will inform thee."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · On the Psalms, Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:169
“Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord - This commences a new division of the psalm, indicated by the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter Tau (ט ṭ), corresponding to our “t,” or “th.” The petition here is, that his prayer might be heard; that it might come into the very presence of God; that there might be no obstructions to its reaching where God was. Let nothing from my unworthiness, from my past sins, from my ignorance, prevent its coming before thee.”
Psalms 119:169
“Let my cry come near before thee - This is really a fine image; it is of frequent occurrence, and is little heeded. Here the psalmists cry for deliverance is personified; made an intelligent being, and sent up to the throne of grace to negotiate in his behalf. He pursues this prosopopoeia in the next verse and sends his supplication in the same way. I have already had occasion to refer to a similar figure in Homer, where prayers are represented as the daughters of Jupiter. See on Psa 88:2 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
May my plea come before You: The plea of verse 170 is the Hebrew techinnah, a request for grace, following the cry of verse 169. The cry asked understanding, and the plea asks rescue. Both are measured by the promise.
Psalms 119:170
“Let my supplication come before thee,.... The same with his "cry" in Psa 119:169; only expressed by another word, signifying a petition for grace and favour, in an humble and submissive manner; which it is entreated might be received and accepted, as before; deliver me according to thy word; of promise, such as that in Psa 50:15; meaning from all troubles and afflictions; out of the hands of all his enemies, and from the power of sin, Satan, and the world; and from all fears of wrath, ruin, and destruction.”
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:170
“Let my supplication come before thee. It is the same entreaty with a slight change of words. He humbly calls his cry a supplication, a sort of beggar's petition; and again he asks for audience and for answer. There might be hindrances in the way to an audience, and he begs for their removal let it come. Other believers are heard let my prayer come before thee. Deliver me according to thy word.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
Psalms 119:170
"Let my request come before Your presence, O Lord: deliver me, according to Your word" [Psalm 119:170]. He repeats what he has asked. For his former words, "Let my prayer come near in Your presence, O Lord:" are like what he says, "Let my request come before Your presence, O Lord:" and the words, "Give me understanding according to Your word," agree with these, "Deliver me according to Your word." For by receiving understanding he is delivered, who of himself through want of understanding is deceived.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:170
“Let my supplication come before thee - The word here rendered “supplication” properly means “favor, mercy, pity,” Jos 11:20; Ezr 9:8; then, that by which favor or mercy is sought - prayer or petition, Psa 6:9; Psa 55:1. Deliver me according to thy word - From my enemies, my sins, my dangers. According to thy promises; according to the arrangements in thy word.”
My lips pour forth praise: John Gill says the verb pictures water flowing from a fountain. Praise spills out once the statutes have been taught, and the teaching is named as its cause. The lesson fills the lips.
Psalms 119:171
“My lips shall utter praise,.... Like water flowing from a fountain, as the word (m) signifies.”
My tongue sings of Your word: The Hebrew verb can mean to answer, so the tongue responds to the word it has received. The reason given is that all the commandments are righteous. Praise here is a reply.
Psalms 119:172
“My tongue shall speak of thy word--literally, "answer Thy Word," that is, with praise, respond to Thy word. Every expression in which we praise God and His Word is a response, or acknowledgment, corresponding to the perfections of Him whom we praise.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
May Your hand be ready to help me: The hands that made him in verse 73 are asked now to help him. The ground of the request is his choice of the precepts, the verb of choosing he used of the way of truth in verse 30. God's hand answers the man's choosing.
Psalms 119:173
“Let thine hand help me. Give me practical succour. Do not entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it not I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succour. Great as thy hand is, let it light on me, even me.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 119:173
"Let Your hand be stretched forth (fiat, be made) to save me, for I have chosen Your commandments" [Psalm 119:173]. That I might not fear, and that not only might my heart hold fast, but my tongue also utter Your words: "I have chosen Your commandments," and have stifled fear with love. Let Your hand therefore be stretched forth, to save me from another's hand. Thus God saved the Martyrs, when He permitted them not to be slain in their souls: for "vain is the safety of man" in the flesh.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Psalms 119:173
“Let thine hand help me - Do thou help me - the hand being that by which we accomplish anything. For I have chosen that precepts - I have chosen them as my comforters and my guide. I have resolved to obey them, and I pray that thou wilt help me to accomplish the purpose of my heart.”
Psalms 119:173
“Let thine hand help me - Exert thy power in my defense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I long for Your salvation, O LORD: Charles Spurgeon hears old Jacob on his deathbed here, the dying cry of Genesis 49:18. The psalmist already knew God's salvation in part, and the longing reaches for something higher and more complete. Delight in the law holds him while he waits.
Psalms 119:174
“I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord - See the notes at Psa 119:166. The word rendered “I have longed” denotes an earnest desire or wish. Compare the notes at Psa 42:1, and the notes at Psa 119:20. And thy law is my delight - It is so much the object of my delight that I earnestly long or desire to see more and more of its richness and fullness.”
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:174
"I have longed for Your salvation, O Lord" [Psalm 119:174]: even if all our foes be reluctant, let Christ the Salvation of God occur to us: the righteous men of old confess that they longed for Him, the Church longed for His destined coming from His mother's womb, the Church longs for His coming at His Father's right hand. Subjoined to this sentence are the words, "And Your law is my meditation:" for the Law gives testimony unto Christ.
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
Let me live to praise You: The psalmist asks for life so that he can spend it on praise, the purpose he gives for living. The judgments he feared in verse 120 are now asked to sustain him. The rulings that make him tremble also hold him up.
Psalms 119:175
“But in this faith, though the heathen rage furiously, and the people imagine a vain thing: though the flesh be slain while it preaches You: "My soul shall live, and shall praise You: and Your judgments shall help me" [Psalm 119:175]. These are those judgments, which it was time should begin at the house of the Lord. [1 Peter 4:17] But "they will help me," he says. And who cannot see how much the blood of the Church has aided the Church? How great a harvest has risen in the whole world from that sowing?”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Exposition on Psalm 119patristic
I have strayed like a lost sheep: Charles Spurgeon hears in this last line a man who lost his road and himself, and who remains apt to wander. John Gill notes that straying in desert places is the nature of sheep, and Luke 15:4 has the shepherd go looking. The psalm's last request is to be found.
Psalms 119:176
“This is the finale, the conclusion of the whole matter: I have gone astray like a lost sheep often, wilfully, wantonly, and even hopelessly, but for thine interposing grace. In times gone by, before I was afflicted, and before thou hadst fully taught me thy statutes, I went astray. "I went astray" from the practical precepts, from the instructive doctrines, and from the heavenly experiences which thou hadst set before me. I lost my road, and I lost myself. Even now I am apt to wander, and, in fact, have roamed already; therefore, Lord, restore me. Seek thy servant.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 119:176
“Not only the sinner before conversion, but the believer after conversion, is unable to recover himself; but the latter, after temporary wandering, knows to whom to look for restoration.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Acrostic | The psalm runs through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order, eight verses to a letter, and every verse of a stanza opens with that stanza's letter. Delitzsch states the arithmetic, eight verses in each of twenty-two groups making one hundred and seventy-six.Franz Delitzsch, Keil and Delitzsch on the Psalms, on Psalm 119. | Psalm 119:1, Psalm 119:9, Psalm 119:169 |
| A chain of synonyms for the word of God | Delitzsch calls the psalm's terms for God's word "a many-linked chain of synonyms which runs through the whole Psalm". He quotes the Masora's census of the psalm, which finds one of ten expressions in every verse with verse 122 the single exception. The count is the Masora's, on the Hebrew text.Franz Delitzsch, Keil and Delitzsch on the Psalms, on Psalm 119. | Psalm 119:1, Psalm 119:122 |
| Parallelism | The two members of a verse answer one another, things answering to things and words to words. Psalm 119:105 says one thing twice, which is Lowth's synonymous species, and Psalm 119:113 sets one member against the other, which is his antithetic species. Lowth grants that his third species, the synthetic, is "very subtile and obscure".Robert Lowth, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, Lecture XIX. | Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:113 |
| Direct address to the LORD | The psalm speaks to God by name throughout, which is why the whole of it reads as prayer. Delitzsch records that the address occurs twenty-two times in the psalm, once for each of its stanzas by his count.Franz Delitzsch, Keil and Delitzsch on the Psalms, on Psalm 119. | Psalm 119:12, Psalm 119:31, Psalm 119:159 |
The psalm is built on four devices a reader can see in the verses themselves.
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
The acrostic runs through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order, eight verses to a letter, and every verse of a stanza opens with that stanza's letter. Franz Delitzsch, in Keil and Delitzsch on the Psalms, on Psalm 119, states the arithmetic: each group contains eight verses, and eight times twenty-two is one hundred and seventy-six. The stanza heads stand at Psalm 119:1, Psalm 119:9 and on to Psalm 119:169.
The terms for the word of God form what Delitzsch calls "a many-linked chain of synonyms which runs through the whole Psalm". He quotes the Masora's own census of the psalm: in every verse, verse 122 alone excepted, one of ten expressions stands. The count is the Masora's, made on the Hebrew text, and other counts of the same psalm differ because they count in other languages and by other rules.
The lines answer one another in the pattern Robert Lowth called parallelism, things answering to things and words to words, in Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, Lecture XIX. Psalm 119:105 sets two members side by side saying one thing twice, which is his synonymous species. Psalm 119:113 sets two members against one another, which is his antithetic species. Lowth grants of his third species, the synthetic, that "the scheme of the parallelism is very subtile and obscure", so a page names the pattern only where the verse shows it.
The psalm speaks to God by name throughout. Delitzsch records that the address occurs twenty-two times, once for each of the psalm's stanzas by his count, and it stands at Psalm 119:12, Psalm 119:31 and Psalm 119:159 among others.
Across the canon the psalm belongs to two sets a reader can follow. Alfons Deissler groups it among the psalms of the revelation of the divine word with Psalms 1 and 19, and among the alphabetic psalms with Psalms 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112 and 145, both reported through D. J. A. Clines, "Psalm Research since 1955: II. The Literary Genres", Tyndale Bulletin 20.1, 1969.
The acrostic set itself is counted two ways, and the page names whose count it prints. F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp counts fifteen partial or full acrostics in the Old Testament, quoted by Jeffrey G. Audirsch, "Interpreting Hebrew Poetry", Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry 13, 2016. This site's own acrostics brief counts fourteen, following Van der Spuy and Alsene-Parker. Two rules for counting give two figures, and both are stated with the holder's name.
The psalm's last verse opens a chain that runs through the Psalter. The shepherd line stands at Psalm 23:1, Psalm 80:1 and Psalm 100:3, and Psalm 119:176, the last verse of the psalm of the whole word, speaks as a strayed sheep asking to be sought. That verse is this chapter's door to Psalm 23.
The three Torah psalms
Three psalms make the law of the LORD their subject rather than their background, and the form critics group them together as one kind. Psalms that teach rather than petition: the two ways, the law as delight, the prosperity of the wicked, and the shortness of a life. Psalms 127 and 128 teach in the same way and stand under the ascents.
- Psalm 16 versesThe two ways, and the tree planted by streams of water.
- Psalm 1914 versesThe heavens tell of God, and the law of the LORD is perfect.
- Psalm 119176 verses, this chapterOne hundred and seventy-six verses on the word of God.
The grouping is the form criticism of Hermann Gunkel, Einleitung in die Psalmen, 1933, as C. Hassell Bullock sets it out in Encountering the Book of Psalms, 2001. Frank-Lothar Hossfeld writes that Psalm 119 is deemed to be the Torah psalm per se.
Key words
The words this chapter repeats, each one a lemma of the store’s tagged Hebrew however the chapter inflects it, with the verses it stands in. The grammar words are struck out, and the eight terms the psalm says the word of God by stand in the figure above the patterns rather than here. Every row opens that word’s own page.
| Word | Said | No.Strong’s | Meaning | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָמַד | lâmad | H3925 | to learn | 7, 12, 26, 64, 66, 68 and 7 more |
| צֶדֶק | tsedeq | H6664 | righteousness | 7, 62, 75, 106, 121, 123 and 6 more |
| שָׁמַר | shâmar | H8104 | to keep | 4, 5, 8, 9, 17, 34 and 15 more |
| חָיָה | châyâh | H2421 | to live | 17, 25, 37, 40, 50, 77 and 10 more |
| אָהַב | ʼâhab | H157 | to love | 47, 48, 97, 113, 119, 127 and 6 more |
| לֵב | lêb | H3820 | heart | 2, 10, 11, 32, 34, 36 and 8 more |
Show the next 4 words
| Word | Said | No.Strong’s | Meaning | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עוֹלָם | ʻôwlâm | H5769 | forever | 44, 52, 89, 93, 98, 111 and 5 more |
| עֶבֶד | ʻebed | H5650 | servant/slave | 17, 23, 38, 49, 65, 76 and 8 more |
| דֶּרֶךְ | derek | H1870 | way | 1, 3, 5, 14, 26, 27 and 7 more |
| יְהֹוָה | Yᵉhôvâh | H3068 | LORD | 1, 12, 31, 33, 41, 52 and 18 more |
3 other published counts of these terms
- Ten expressions, and every verse of the psalm carries one of them, verse 122 alone excepted. The Masora, as Franz Delitzsch quotes it, Keil and Delitzsch on the Psalms, on Psalm 119, counted in the Hebrew text.
- Eight terms: law, promise, word, statutes, commandments, ordinances, decrees and precepts. C. S. Rodd, his treatment of the psalm, counted in the New Revised Standard Version.
- Six of the 176 verses carry none of the English terms: 90, 116, 121, 122, 132 and 149. Verse 116 carries promised as a verb. This site, counted in the Berean Standard Bible in this store, counted 2026-09-17.
Keep studying
Studies9
Words12
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Alfons Deissler, Psalm 119 (118) und seine Theologie, Munich, K. Zink, 1955, reported by D. J. A. Clines, "Psalm Research since 1955: II. The Literary Genres", Tyndale Bulletin 20.1, 1969; Frank-Lothar Hossfeld, "The connections of the Torah-Psalm 119 to the fifth Psalter of David (Ps 138-145)", Verbum et Ecclesia 40.1, 2019; Georg Fohrer, his position as reported by D. J. A. Clines, "Psalm Research since 1955: II. The Literary Genres", Tyndale Bulletin 20.1, 1969; Hermann Gunkel and Joachim Begrich, Einleitung in die Psalmen: die Gattungen der religiösen Lyrik Israels, Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1933, as classified by Tyler F. Williams; P. Drijvers, The Psalms: Their Structure and Meaning, Herder / Burns and Oates, 1965, reported by D. J. A. Clines, "Psalm Research since 1955: II. The Literary Genres", Tyndale Bulletin 20.1, 1969 and Sigmund Mowinckel, "Psalms and Wisdom", Vetus Testamentum Supplements III, 1955, and The Psalms in Israel's Worship II, reported by D. J. A. Clines, "Psalm Research since 1955: II. The Literary Genres", Tyndale Bulletin 20.1, 1969.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Charles Spurgeon; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The painting
God Writes the Ten Commandments to Moses on Two Tablets of Stone on Mount Sinai. Joseph von Führich, 1835. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.