Psalms 119:129
in Psalms 119Wonderful are Your testimonies; therefore I obey them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy testimonies are wonderful; Therefore doth my soul keep them.
KJV
Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
7 notes on this verseפ, 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.
This site's exposition
Wonderful are Your testimonies
on Psalms 119:129-136
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore hath my soul searched them" (ver. 129). Who counteth, even by their kinds, the testimonies of God? Heaven and earth, His visible and invisible works, declare in some manner the testimony of His goodness and greatness; and the very ordinary and accustomed course of nature, whereby the seasons are rapidly revolved, in all things after their kinds, however temporal and perishable, however held cheap through our constant experience of them, give, if a pious thinker give heed to them, a testimony to the Creator. But which of these is not wonderful, if we measure each not by its habitual presence, but by reason? But if we venture to bring all nature within the comprehensive view of one act of contemplation, doth not that take place in us which the prophet describeth, "I considered Thy works, and trembled"? Yet the Psalmist was not terrified in his wonder at creation, but rather said that this was the reason that he ought to search it, because it was wonderful. For after saying, "Thy testimonies are wonderful," he addeth, "therefore hath my soul searched them;" as if he had become more curious from the difficulty of thoroughly searching them. For the more abstruse are the causes of anything, the more wonderful it is...
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
"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.
"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. It is wonderful that God should have borne testimony at all to sinful men, and more wonderful still that his testimony should be of such a character, so clear, so full, so gracious, so mighty. "Therefore doth my soul keep them." Their wonderful character so impressed itself upon his mind that he kept them in his memory: their wonderful excellence so charmed his heart that he kept them in his life. Some men wonder at the words of God, and use them for their speculation; but David was always practical, and the more he wondered the more he obeyed. Note that his religion was soul work; not with head and hand alone did he keep the testimonies; but his soul, his truest and most real self, held fast to them.
Thy testimonies are wonderful - There is a height, length, depth, and breadth in thy word and testimonies that are truly astonishing; and on this account my soul loves them, and I deeply study them. The more I study, the more light and salvation I obtain.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thy testimonies are wonderful - This commences a new division of the psalm, indicated by the Hebrew letter Pe (פ p), corresponding to our “p.” The meaning of the expression here is, that the laws of God - the revelations of his will - are adapted to fill the mind with wonder. The mind is awed by their wisdom; their comprehensiveness; their extent; their spirituality; their benevolence: by the fact that laws are framed, so perfectly adapted to the end; so well suited to secure order, and to promote happiness. Therefore doth my soul keep them - Because they are so surpassingly wise and benevolent; because they are so manifestly the work of wisdom and goodness.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פְּלָא֥וֹת | pelaot | [are] wonders | H6382 → | 13 times |
| עֵדְוֹתֶ֑יךָ | ʾedevoteikha | testimonies your | H5715 → | 59 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֝֗ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| נְצָרָ֥תַם | netzaratam | it observes them | H5341 → | 63 times |
| נַפְשִֽׁי׃ | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
פְּלָא֥וֹת[are] wonders
pelaotH6382 →13 times
עֵדְוֹתֶ֑יךָtestimonies your
ʾedevoteikhaH5715 →59 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֝֗ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
נְצָרָ֥תַםit observes them
netzaratamH5341 →63 times
נַפְשִֽׁי׃self my
nafshiH5315 →754 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
Psalms 119:18Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
it leads to
- Ephesians 1:17–18
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
- Acts 26:18
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified…
- Isaiah 32:3
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
- Isaiah 35:5
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
- Ephesians 1:17–18
Through
Isaiah 25:1O LORD, You are my God! I will exalt You; I will praise Your name. For You have worked wonders—plans formed long ago—in perfect faithfulness.
it leads to
- Exodus 15:2
The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
- Psalms 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 118:28
You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God, and I will exalt You.
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Exodus 15:2
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).