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Psalms 119:123

in Psalms 119

My eyes fail, looking for Your salvation, and for Your righteous promise.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, And for thy righteous word.

KJV

Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.

This verse in Psalms 119

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

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

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Exposition on Psalm 119 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

...To prefigure His Cross, Moses by the merciful command of God raised aloft on a pole the image of a serpent in the desert, that the likeness of sinful flesh which must be crucified in Christ might be prefigured? By gazing upon this healing Cross, we cast out all the poison of the scandals of the proud: the Cross, which the Psalmist intently looking upon, saith, "My eyes have failed for Thy salvation, and for the words of Thy righteousness" (ver. 123). For God made Christ Himself "to be sin for us, on account of the likeness of sinful flesh, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him." For His utterance of the righteousness of God he therefore saith that his eyes have failed, from gazing ardently and eagerly, while, remembering human infirmity, he longeth for divine grace in Christ.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

The word - For the performance of thy faithful or merciful promise.
Mine eyes fail for that salvation,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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.

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)

proposed

"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. "And for the word of thy righteousness:" a word that would silence the unrighteous words of his oppressors. His eyes as well as his ears waited for the Lord's word: he looked to see the divine word come forth as a fiat for his deliverance. He was "waiting for the verdict"— the verdict of righteousness itself. How happy are we if we have righteousness on our side; for then that which is the sinners' terror is our hope, that which the proud dread is our expectation and desire. David left his reputation entirely in the Lord's hand, and was eager to be cleared by the word of the Judge rather than by any defence of his own. He knew that he had done right, and, therefore, instead of avoiding the supreme court, he begged for the sentence which he knew would work out his deliverance. He even watched with eager eyes for the judgment and the deliverance, the word of righteousness from God which meant salvation to himself.
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)

proposed

"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.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Mine eyes fail - See on Psa 119:82 (note).
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.

The words behind it

5 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.

  • עֵ֭ינַיeyes my

    ʾeinaiH5869887 times

  • כָּל֣וּthey are exhausted

    kaluH3615208 times

  • לִֽישׁוּעָתֶ֑ךָfor deliverance your

    lishuatekhaH344478 times

  • וּלְאִמְרַ֥תand for [the] word of

    uleimratH56537 times

  • צִדְקֶֽךָ׃righteousness your

    tzidkechaH6664119 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

    Psalms 143:7

    Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 69:17

      Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly!

    • Psalms 28:1

      To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.

    • Psalms 27:9

      Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation.

  • Through

    Psalms 130:6

    My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning— more than watchmen wait for the morning.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 63:6

      When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.

    • Psalms 119:147

      I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope.

  • Through

    Psalms 69:3

    I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 6:6

      I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

    • Isaiah 38:14

      I 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.”

    • Psalms 119:82

      My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I ask, “When will You comfort me?”

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

The Utrecht Psalter, the parchment folio carrying Psalm 119. Carolingian scriptorium at Hautvillers, c. 820-835. Utrecht University Library, MS Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32. Public domain.
The Utrecht Psalter, the parchment folio carrying Psalm 119. Carolingian scriptorium at Hautvillers, c. 820-835. Utrecht University Library, MS Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32. Public domain.
This page draws on 9 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 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.