Psalms 119:122
in Psalms 119Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Be surety for thy servant for good: Let not the proud oppress me.
KJV
Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBe surety for thy servant for good,.... The psalmist was, in a like case with Hezekiah, oppressed; and therefore desires the Lord would undertake for him, appear on his side, and defend him, Psa 38:14; and if God himself is the surety of his people, and engages in their behalf, they need fear no enemy. What David prays to God to be for him, that Christ is for all his people, Heb 7:
This site's exposition
I have done what is just and right
on Psalms 119:121-128
He pleads on the ground of his own conduct, having done what is just and right, and asks to be kept from his 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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He next says, "Take off Your servant to that which is good, that the proud calumniate me not" [Psalm 119:122]. They drive me on, that I may fall into evil; do Thou take me off to that which is good. They who rendered these words by the Latin, calumnientur, have followed a Greek expression, not commonly used in Latin. Have the words, Let not the proud calumniate me, the same force, as, Let them "not succeed in calumniating me"?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
) in all this long psalm in which there is not one or other of these ten words; only in three or four they are used concerning God's providence or David's practice (as
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Be surety for thy servant - ערב arob, give a pledge or token that thou wilt help me in times of necessity. Or, Be bail for thy servant. What a word is this! Pledge thyself for me, that thou wilt produce me safely at the judgment of the great day. Then sustain and keep me blameless till the coming of Christ. Neither of these two verses has any of the ten words in reference to God’s law or attributes. The judgment and the justice refer to the psalmist’s own conduct in Psa 119:1
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Be surety--Stand for me against my oppressors (Ge 43:9; Therefore--that is, In view of these benefits, or, Because of the glory of Thy law, so much praised in the previous parts of the Psalm. I love . . . [and] Therefore (repeated)--All its precepts, on all subjects, are estimable for their purity, and lead one imbued with their spirit to hate all evil (Ps 19:10).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
On the grounds of his integrity, desire for God's word, and covenant relation to Him, the servant of God may plead for His protecting care against the wicked, gracious guidance to the knowledge of truth, and His effective vindication of the righteous and their cause, which is also His own.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
"Be surety for thy servant for good." Answer for me. Do not leave thy poor servant to die by the hand of his enemy and thine. Take up my interests and weave them with thine own, and stand for me. As my Master, undertake thy servants' cause, and represent me before the faces of haughty men till they see what an august ally I have in the Lord my God. "Let not the proud oppress me." Thine interposition will answer the purpose of my rescue: when the proud see that thou art my advocate they will hide their heads.
"Be surety for thy servant for good." Answer for me. Do not leave thy poor servant to die by the hand of his enemy and thine. Take up my interests and weave them with thine own, and stand for me. As my Master, undertake thy servants' cause, and represent me before the faces of haughty men till they see what an august ally I have in the Lord my God. "Let not the proud oppress me." Thine interposition will answer the purpose of my rescue: when the proud see that thou art my advocate they will hide their heads. We should have been crushed beneath our proud adversary the devil if our Lord Jesus had not stood between us and the accuser, and become a surety for us. It is by his suretyship that we escape like a bird from the snare of the fowler. What a blessing to be able to leave our matters in our Surety's hands, knowing that all will be well, since he has an answer for every accuser, a rebuke for every reviler. Good men dread oppression, for it makes even a wise man mad, and they send up their cries to heaven for deliverance; nor shall they cry in vain, for the Lord will undertake the cause of his servants, and fight their battles against the proud. The word "servant" is wisely used as a plea for favour for himself, and the word "proud" as an argument against his enemies. It seems to be inevitable that proud men should become oppressors, and that they should take most delight in oppressing really gracious men.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Be surety for thy servant for good - On the meaning of the word here rendered “be surety,” see the notes at Job 17:3, and the notes at Isa 38:14, in both which places the same Hebrew word occurs: In Isaiah it is rendered “undertake for me.” The word means, properly, “to mix, to mingle;” hence, to braid, to interweave; then, to exchange, to barter. Then it means to mix or intermingle interests; to unite ourselves with others so that their interests come to be our own; and hence, to take one under our protection, to become answerable for, to be a surety for: as, when one endorses a note for another, he mingles his own interest, reputation, and means with his. So Christ becomes the security or surety - ἔγγυος enguos - of his people, Heb 7:22. The prayer here is, that God would, so to speak, mix or mingle his cause and that of the psalmist together, and that he would then protect the common cause as his own; or, that he would become a “pledge” or “surety” for the safety of the psalmist. This now, through the Mediator, we have a right to ask at the hand of God; and when God makes our cause his own, we must be safe. Let not the proud oppress me - See the notes at Psa 119:51. Let them not triumph over me, and crush me.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֲרֹ֣ב | aro | stand surety for | H6148 → | |
| עַבְדְּךָ֣ | ʾavdekha | servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| לְט֑וֹב | letov | for good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| אַֽל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| יַעַשְׁקֻ֥נִי | yaashkuni | they oppress me | H6231 → | 36 times |
| זֵדִֽים׃ | zedim | arrogant [people] | H2086 → | 13 times |
עֲרֹ֣בstand surety for
aroH6148 →
עַבְדְּךָ֣servant your
ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times
לְט֑וֹבfor good
letovH2896 →538 times
אַֽל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
יַעַשְׁקֻ֥נִיthey oppress me
yaashkuniH6231 →36 times
זֵדִֽים׃arrogant [people]
zedimH2086 →13 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Hebrews 7:22Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
it leads to
- Genesis 44:32
Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 11:25
In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
- Genesis 44:32
Through
Isaiah 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:11
We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Psalms 69:3
I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Nahum 2:7
It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
- Psalms 123:1–4
I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
- Ezekiel 7:16
The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.
- Isaiah 59:11
Through
Psalms 119:21You rebuke the arrogant— the cursed who stray from Your commandments.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 5:5
Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- 1 Peter 5:5
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
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 119; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.