Psalms 119:24
in Psalms 119Your testimonies are indeed my delight; they are my counselors.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy testimonies also are my delight And my counsellors. ד DALETH.
KJV
Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
8 notes on this verse'For your testimonies are my meditation, and your justifications are my counsel'; which counsel is found in the testaments and testimonies. In designation of this it is said in Exodus that when Moses was to enter the oracle, he entered through the midst of the …
This site's exposition
Deal bountifully with Your servant
on Psalms 119:17-24
He asks for open eyes to see wondrous things in the law, and calls himself a stranger on the earth. Then the trouble is named: rulers sit and slander him while he keeps meditating. The testimonies are his counselors when human counsel turns hostile.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Princes also did sit and speak against me: but Thy servant is exercised in Thy statutes" (ver. 23). Thou who desirest to know what sort of exercise this was, understand what he hath added, "For Thy testimonies are my meditation, and Thy statutes are my counsellors" (ver. 24). Remember what I have above instructed you, that testimonies are acts of martyrdom. Remember that among the statutes of the Lord there is none more difficult and more worthy of admiration, than that every man should love his enemies. Thus then the body of Christ was exercised, so that it meditated on the acts of martyrdom that testified of Him, and loved those from whom, while they rebuked and despised the Church for these very martyrdoms, she suffered persecutions. ...
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thy testimonies also are my delight,.... Or "delights" (x); exceeding delightful to me.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
"Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors." They were not only themes for meditation, but "also" sources of delight and means of guidance. While his enemies took counsel with each other the holy man took counsel with the testimonies of God. The fowlers could not drive the bird from its nest with all their noise. It was their delight to slander and his delight to meditate.
"Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors." They were not only themes for meditation, but "also" sources of delight and means of guidance. While his enemies took counsel with each other the holy man took counsel with the testimonies of God. The fowlers could not drive the bird from its nest with all their noise. It was their delight to slander and his delight to meditate. The words of the Lord serve us for many purposes; in our sorrows they are our delight, and in our difficulties they are our guide; we derive joy from them and discover wisdom in them. If we desire to find comfort in the Scriptures we must submit ourselves to their counsel, and when we follow their counsel it must not be with reluctance but with delight. This is the safest way of dealing with those who plot for our ruin; let us give more heed to the true testimonies of the Lord than to the false witness of our foes. The best answer to accusing princes is the word of the justifying King. In Psa 119:16 David said, "I will delight in thy statutes," and here he says "they are my delight :" thus resolutions formed in God's strength come to fruit, and spiritual desires ripen into actual attainments. O that it might be so with all the readers of these lines.
Thy testimonies also are - my counsellors - אנשי עצתי anshey atsathi, “the men of my counsel.” I sit with them; and I consider every testimony thou hast given as a particular counsellor; one whose advice I especially need. The Analysis will farther explain the particular uses of this part.
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
Thy testimonies also are my delight - See the notes at Psa 119:16. He found his main happiness in the word of God. And my counselors - Margin, as in Hebrew, “men of my counsel.” He sought direction and advice from them as from a friend who would give him counsel. He looked to the revealed law of God to ascertain what was right; to know how he should act in the emergencies of life.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּֽם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| עֵ֭דֹתֶיךָ | ʾedoteikha | testimonies your | H5713 → | 26 times |
| שַׁעֲשֻׁעָ֗י | shaashuai | [are] delight<s> my | H8191 → | 9 times |
| אַנְשֵׁ֥י | ʾanshei | [the] people of | H582 → | 566 times |
| עֲצָתִֽי׃ | ʾatzati | counsel my | H6098 → | 89 times |
גַּֽם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
עֵ֭דֹתֶיךָtestimonies your
ʾedoteikhaH5713 →26 times
שַׁעֲשֻׁעָ֗י[are] delight<s> my
shaashuaiH8191 →9 times
אַנְשֵׁ֥י[the] people of
ʾansheiH582 →566 times
עֲצָתִֽי׃counsel my
ʾatzatiH6098 →89 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 1:8This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper…
it leads to
- Psalms 119:15
I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.
- Psalms 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
- Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to…
- Proverbs 3:1
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
- Deuteronomy 29:9
So keep and follow the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all you do.
- Psalms 119:15
Through
Colossians 3:16Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to…
it leads to
- Psalms 119:11
I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
- Ephesians 5:19
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,
- John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- Psalms 119:11
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; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
