Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Psalms 106:3

in Psalms 106

Blessed are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Blessed are they that keep justice, And he that doeth righteousness at all times.

KJV

Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

This verse in Psalms 106

Commentary

12 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Homily 32, on Psalm 105 · Written before 420.

Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. David speaks rightly. He too had done judgment, he had done justice: but because he did not do it at all times, therefore he fell. For what does he say? Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. But blessed are they who do it at all times.

This site's exposition

for He is good

on Psalms 106:1-3

Hallelujah opens the psalm, and the call is to give thanks to the LORD for His goodness. Verse 2 asks who can describe the LORD's mighty acts. Verse 3 states what is owed before the confession begins, justice upheld and righteousness practiced at all times.

This site's exposition

Blessed are those who uphold justice

Blessed is ashre, the word that opens Psalm 1:1. The rest of the psalm measures Israel against this line and finds the fathers falling short of it. Righteousness returns at verse 31, credited to Phinehas.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Exposition on Psalm 106 · Written before 430.

proposed

"Who can express the mighty acts of the Lord?" (ver. 2). Full of the consideration of the Divine works, while he entreateth His mercy, "Who," he saith, "can express the mighty acts of the Lord, or make all His praises heard?" We must supply what was said above, to make the sense complete here, thus, "Who shall make all His praises heard?" that is, who is sufficient to make all His praises heard? "Shall make" then "heard," he saith; that is, cause that they be heard; showing, that the mighty acts of the Lord and His praises are so to be spoken of, that they may be preached to those who hear them. But who can make "all," heard? Is it that as the next words are, "Blessed are they that alway keep judgment, and do righteousness in every time" (ver. 3); he perhaps meant those praises of His, which are understood as His works in His commandments? "For it is God," saith the Apostle, "who worketh in you," ...since He worketh in these things in a manner that cannot be spoken. "Who will do all His praises heard?" that is, who, when he hath heard them, doth all His praises? which are the works of His commandments. As far as they are done, although all which are heard are not performed, He is to be praised, who "worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." For this reason, while he might have said, all His commandments, or, all the works of His commandments; he preferred saying, "His praises." But unless there were some difference between judgment and righteousness, we should not read in another Psalm, "Until righteousness turn again unto judgment." The Scripture, indeed, loveth to place these two words together; as, "Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His seat;" and this, "He shall make thy righteousness as clear as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day;" where there is apparently a repetition of the same sentiment. […]

A commentator

Caesarius of Arles

SERMON 6:8 · Written before 542.

proposed

I implore, you, dearly beloved, always to call to mind and remember what we have mentioned for the salvation of your soul. Do not accept it only in passing; our sermon ought to fasten its roots in your heart, so that on judgment day it …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Blessed are they that keep judgment,.... Or "observe" (k) it; the righteous judgment of God on wicked men; by which he is known in his justice, holiness, truth, and faithfulness; and by which the inhabitants of the earth observing it, learn to do righteousness, as follows: or else it may intend the word of God, his laws, statutes, and ordinances, after called his judgments, Psa 19:9, which should be observed and kept, as the rule of our actions, walk, and conversation.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

God's people are those whose principles are sound-- They keep judgment (they adhere to the rules of wisdom and religion, and their practices are agreeable); they do righteousness, are just to God and to all men, and herein they are steady and constant; they do it at all times, in all manner of conversation, at every turn, in every instance, and herein persevering to the end.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The blessing is limited to those whose principles and acts are right. How "blessed" Israel would be now, if he had "observed God's statutes" (Ps 105:45). In view of the desert of sins to be confessed, the writer invokes God's covenant mercy to himself and the Church, in whose welfare he rejoices.
4 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century4 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 5 (1878)

proposed

Since the Lord is so good and so worthy to be praised, it must be for our happiness to obey him. Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Multiplied are the blessings which must descend upon the whole company of the keepers of the way of justice, and especially upon that one rare man who at all times follows that which is right. Holiness is happiness. The way of right is the way of peace. Yet men leave this road, and prefer the paths of the destroyer.

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 5 (1878)

proposed

Since the Lord is so good and so worthy to be praised, it must be for our happiness to obey him. Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Multiplied are the blessings which must descend upon the whole company of the keepers of the way of justice, and especially upon that one rare man who at all times follows that which is right. Holiness is happiness. The way of right is the way of peace. Yet men leave this road, and prefer the paths of the destroyer. Hence the story which follows is in sad contrast with the happiness here depicted, because the way of Israel was not that of judgment and righteousness, but that of folly and iniquity. The Psalmist, while contemplating the perfections of God, was impressed with the feeling that the servants of such a being must be happy, and when he looked around and saw how the tribes of old prospered when they obeyed, and suffered when they sinned, he was still more fully assured of the truth of his conclusion. O could we but be free of sin we should be rid of sorrow! We would not only be just, but "keep judgment"; we would not be content with occasionally acting rightly, but would "do justice at all times."

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times - How near do the Anglo-Saxon, the ancient Scottish Version, and the present translation, approach to each other! Anglo-Saxon. “Blessed they that holdeth doom, and doth righteousness in ilkere tide.” Anglo-Scottish. Blisful tha that kepes dome, and duse rightwisnes in ilk tyme. Those are truly blessed, or happy, whose hearts are devoted to God, and who live in the habit of obedience. Those, the general tenor of whose life is not conformed to the will of God, have no true happiness.
Blessed are they that keep judgment - They are blessed, for their conduet is right, and it leads to happiness. The Hebrew is, “the keepers of judgment;” that is, they who observe the rules of justice in their conduct, or who are governed by the principles of integrity. And he that doeth righteousness at all times - All who yield obedience to just law - whether a nation or an individual. The psalm is designed to illustrate this “by contrast;” that is, by showing, in the conduct of the Hebrew people, the consequences of “disobedience,” and thus impliedly what would have been, and what always must be, the consequences of the opposite course. Compare Psa 15:1-5.

The words behind it

7 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אַ֭שְׁרֵיhow blessed!

    ʾashreiH835 →45 times

  • שֹׁמְרֵ֣י[are those who] observe

    shomereiH8104 →468 times

  • מִשְׁפָּ֑ט<of> justice

    mishpatH4941 →422 times

  • עֹשֵׂ֖ה[one who] does

    ʾosehH6213 →2628 times

  • צְדָקָ֣ה<of> righteousness

    tzedakahH6666 →157 times

  • בְכָל־at every

    vekhol-H3605 →5413 times

  • עֵֽת׃time

    ʾetH6256 →296 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Galatians 6:9

    Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 15:58

      Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

    • 2 Thessalonians 3:13

      But as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in well-doing.

    • Isaiah 40:30–31

      Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

    • Hebrews 10:35–39

      So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

    • Hebrews 12:3

      Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

  • Through

    James 1:25

    But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

    it leads to

    • Luke 11:28

      But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • John 13:17

      If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

  • Through

    John 15:14

    You are My friends if you do what I command you.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 12:50

      For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 106; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 6:8; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 32, on Psalm 105; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.