Psalms 119:173
in Psalms 119May Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your precepts.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let thy hand be ready to help me; For I have chosen thy precepts.
KJV
Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
May my cry come before You
on Psalms 119:169-176
The last asking is to be heard, the cry before God and the plea after it. His lips pour out praise and his tongue sings of the word. The psalm ends on a stray sheep asking to be sought.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Let Your hand be stretched forth (fiat, be made) to save me, for I have chosen Your commandments" [Psalm 119:173]. That I might not fear, and that not only might my heart hold fast, but my tongue also utter Your words: "I have chosen Your commandments," and have stifled fear with love. Let Your hand therefore be stretched forth, to save me from another's hand. Thus God saved the Martyrs, when He permitted them not to be slain in their souls: for "vain is the safety of man" in the flesh. The words, "Let Your hand be made," may also be taken to mean Christ the Hand of God.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Let thine hand help me,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Let thine hand help me. Give me practical succour. Do not entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it not I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succour. Great as thy hand is, let it light on me, even me. The prayer reminds me of Peter walking on the sea and beginning to sink; he, too, cried, "Lord, help me, "and the hand of his Master was stretched out for his rescue. For I have chosen, thy precepts. A good argument. A man may fitly ask help from God's hand when he has dedicated his own hand entirely to the obedience of the faith. "I have chosen thy precepts." His election was made, his mind was made up. In preference to all earthly rules and ways, in preference even to his own will, he had chosen to be obedient to the divine commands. Will not God help such a man in holy work and sacred service? Assuredly he will. If grace has given us the heart with which to will, it will also give us the hand with which to perform. Wherever, under the constraints of a divine call, we are engaged in any high and lofty enterprise, and feel it to be too much for our strength, we may always invoke the right hand of God in words like these.
Let thine hand help me. Give me practical succour. Do not entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it not I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succour. Great as thy hand is, let it light on me, even me.
Let thine hand help me - Exert thy power in my defense.
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
Let thine hand help me - Do thou help me - the hand being that by which we accomplish anything. For I have chosen that precepts - I have chosen them as my comforters and my guide. I have resolved to obey them, and I pray that thou wilt help me to accomplish the purpose of my heart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּהִֽי־ | tehi- | may it be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| יָדְךָ֥ | yadekha | hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| לְעָזְרֵ֑נִי | leazereni | [about] to help me | H5826 → | 81 times |
| כִּ֖י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| פִקּוּדֶ֣יךָ | fikudeicha | precepts your | H6490 → | 24 times |
| בָחָֽרְתִּי׃ | vachareti | I have chosen | H977 → | 171 times |
תְּהִֽי־may it be
tehi-H1961 →3559 times
יָדְךָ֥hand your
yadekhaH3027 →1618 times
לְעָזְרֵ֑נִי[about] to help me
leazereniH5826 →81 times
כִּ֖יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
פִקּוּדֶ֣יךָprecepts your
fikudeichaH6490 →24 times
בָחָֽרְתִּי׃I have chosen
vacharetiH977 →171 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
Joshua 24:15But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 18:21
Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did…
- John 6:67–68
So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?”
- Ruth 1:15–16
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.”
- Deuteronomy 29:18
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure…
- Ezekiel 20:39
And as for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you. But afterward, you will surely listen to Me, and you…
- 1 Kings 18:21
Through
Deuteronomy 30:19I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 30:15
See, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster.
- Deuteronomy 11:26
See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—
- Psalms 119:30
I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
- Deuteronomy 30:15
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).