Psalms 119:139
in Psalms 119My zeal has consumed me because my foes forget Your words.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My zeal hath consumed me, Because mine adversaries have forgotten thy words.
KJV
My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Righteous are You, O LORD
on Psalms 119:137-144
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
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. But the words, "my zeal," which most of the copies read, occasion no dispute: for what wonder is it if every man pineth away from his own zeal? The words read in other copies, "Thy zeal," signify a man zealous for God, not for himself: but there is no difficulty in using "my" in the same sense...The Psalmist's jealousy is therefore also to be understood in a good sense: for he addeth the cause, and saith, "Because mine enemies have forgotten Thy words." ...
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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. David could not bear that men should forget God's words. He was ready to forget himself, aye, to, consume himself, because these men forgot God. The ungodly were David's enemies: his enemies, because they hated him for his godliness; his enemies, because he abhorred them for their ungodliness. These men had gone so far in iniquity that they not only violated and neglected the commands of God, but they appeared actually to have forgotten them. This put David into a great heat; he burned with indignation. How dare they trample on sacred things! How could they utterly ignore the commands of God himself! He was astonished, and filled with holy anger.
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.
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.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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. Because mine enemies have forgotten thy words - Thy law; thy commands. It was not because they were his foes - not because he was endeavoring to destroy them, or to take vengeance on them - but because they were unmindful of God, and of the claims of his law. It is a great triumph which religion gains over a man’s soul, when, in looking on the conduct of persecutors, calumniators, and slanderers - of those who are constantly doing us wrong - we are more grieved because they violate the law of God than because they injure us; when our solicitude is turned from ourselves, and terminates on our regard for the honor of God and his law. Yet that is the nature of true religion; and that we should be able to find in ourselves in such circumstances. A man should doubt the evidence of his personal religion, if all his feelings terminate on the wrong done to himself by the wicked conduct of others; if he has no feeling of solicitude because the law of God has been violated, and God has been dishonored. Compare the notes at Psa 119:136.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| צִמְּתַ֥תְנִי | tzimetatni | it has destroyed me | H6789 → | 15 times |
| קִנְאָתִ֑י | kinati | zeal my | H7068 → | 43 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שָׁכְח֖וּ | shakhechu | they have forgotten | H7911 → | 102 times |
| דְבָרֶ֣יךָ | devareikha | words your | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| צָרָֽי׃ | tzarai | opponents my | H6862 → | 109 times |
צִמְּתַ֥תְנִיit has destroyed me
tzimetatniH6789 →15 times
קִנְאָתִ֑יzeal my
kinatiH7068 →43 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
שָׁכְח֖וּthey have forgotten
shakhechuH7911 →102 times
דְבָרֶ֣יךָwords your
devareikhaH1697 →1440 times
צָרָֽי׃opponents my
tzaraiH6862 →109 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
John 2:17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
it leads to
- Psalms 69:9
because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.
- Psalms 69:9
Through
Matthew 21:42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
it leads to
- Psalms 118:22–23
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Isaiah 28:16
So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
- Acts 4:11
This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
- 1 Peter 2:4–8
As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,
- Ephesians 2:20
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
- Psalms 118:22–23
Through
Psalms 69:9because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.
it leads to
- Romans 15:3
For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.”
- John 2:14–17
In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables.
- Romans 15:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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, Vol. 6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.