Psalms 119:28
in Psalms 119My soul melts with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My soul melteth for heaviness: Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
KJV
My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
My soul melteth - Margin, “droppeth.” The Hebrew word here employed - דלף dâlaph - means to drop, to drip, to distil, spoken of a house, as when the rain drops through the roof, Ecc 10:18; then, to shed tears, to weep, Job 16:20 - and this seems to be the meaning here. The idea of melting is not properly in the word, and the term weep would better express the meaning. His soul seemed to drop tears. It overflowed with tears. Yet there is an idea of abundant or constant weeping. It is not a gush of emotion, as when we say of one that he is “bathed in tears;” it is the idea of a steady flow or dropping of tears - slow, silent, but constant - as if the soul were dripping away or dissolving. Thus the idea is more striking and beautiful than that of melting. It is quiet but continuous grief that slowly wears away the soul. There are two kinds of sorrow: (a) the one represented by floods of tears, like fierce torrents that sweep all away, and are soon passed; (b) the other is the gentle dropping - the constant wearing - the slow attrition caused by inward grief, that secretly but certainly wears away the soul. The latter is more common, and more difficult to be borne than the other. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “My soul slumbereth.” For heaviness - This word means grief, sorrow, vexation. Pro 14:13; Pro 17:21. It is here silent grief; hidden sorrow. How many thus pine in secret, until life slowly wears away, and they sink to the grave. Strengthen thou me - Give me strength to meet this constant wearing away - this slow work of sorrow. We need strength to bear great and sudden sorrow; we need it not less to bear that which constantly wears upon us; which makes our sleep uneasy; which preys upon our nerves, and slowly eats away our life. According unto thy word - See Psa 119:9, Psa 119:25.
This site's exposition
My soul cleaves to the dust
on Psalms 119:25-32
He begins on the floor, his soul clinging to the dust, and asks to be revived according to the word. By the end he is choosing and moving: the way of truth chosen, the path of the commandments run. Verse 32 has God enlarging the heart he runs with.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Whence the Psalmist, struggling and wearied with the difficulty of obeying them, says, "My soul has slumbered for very heaviness: O establish Thou me with Your word!" [Psalm 119:28]. What means, has slumbered? save that he has cooled in the hope which he had entertained of being able to reach them. But, he adds, "Stablish Thou me with Your word:" that I may not by slumbering fall away from those duties which I feel that I have already attained: establish Thou me therefore in those words of Yours that I already hold, that I may be able to reach unto others through edification.
"And you," it says, "may dwell securely in your land." The wicked person is never secure but is always disturbed and wavering. He is tossed about by every wind of doctrine to deceitful error, by the craftiness of people. However, the just person who observes …
I bid you, therefore, be considerate enough to regard in a natural sense our plausible discourse and to weigh our statements in simplicity of mind and with attentive intellect. Do not follow the traditions of philosophy or those who gather the semblance of truth in the "vain deceit" of the arts of persuasion. Rather, accept, in accordance with the rule of truth, what is set forth in the inspired words of God and is poured into the hearts of the faithful by the contemplation of such sublimity. For it is written: "Strengthen me in your words."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
My soul melteth for heaviness,.... Like wax before the sun or fire; or flows like water; drops (a), as the word signifies, and dissolves into tears, through grief and sorrow for sins committed; or by reason of Satan's temptations, or divine desertions, or grievous troubles and afflictions; which cause heaviness, lie heavy, and press hard; strengthen thou me according unto thy word; to oppose corruptions, withstand temptations, bear up under trials and afflictions, and do the will of God.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In order to adhere to His word, we must seek deliverance from temptations to sin as well as from despondency. enlarge--or, "expand" my heart--with gracious affections.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
"My soul melteth for heaviness." He was dissolving away in tears. The solid strength of his constitution was turning to liquid as if molten by the furnace heat of his afflictions. Heaviness of heart is a killing thing, and when it abounds it threatens to turn life into a long death, in which a man seems to drop away in a perpetual drip of grief. Tears are the distillation of the heart; when a man weeps he wastes away his soul.
"My soul melteth for heaviness." He was dissolving away in tears. The solid strength of his constitution was turning to liquid as if molten by the furnace heat of his afflictions. Heaviness of heart is a killing thing, and when it abounds it threatens to turn life into a long death, in which a man seems to drop away in a perpetual drip of grief. Tears are the distillation of the heart; when a man weeps he wastes away his soul. Some of us know what great heaviness means, for we have been brought under its power again and again, and often have we felt ourselves to be poured out like water, and near to being like water spilt upon the ground, never again to be gathered up. There is one good point in this downcast state, for it is better to be melted with grief than to be hardened by impenitence. "Strengthen thou me according unto thy word." He had found out an ancient promise that the saints shall be strengthened, and here he pleads it. His hope in his state of depression lies not in himself, but in his God; if he may be strengthened from on high he will yet shake off his heaviness and rise to joy again. Observe how he pleads the promise of the word, and asks for nothing more than to be dealt with after the recorded manner of the Lord of mercy. Had not Hannah sung, "He shall give strength unto his King, and exalt the horn of his anointed? God strengthens us by infusing grace through his word: the word which creates can certainly sustain. Grace can enable us to bear the constant fret of an abiding sorrow, it can repair the decay caused by the perpetual tear drip, and give to the believer the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Let us always resort to prayer in our desponding times, for it is the surest and shortest way out of the depths.
My soul melteth - דלף dalaph sigifies to distil, to drop as tears from the eye. As my distresses cause the tears to distil from my eyes, so the overwhelming load of my afflictions causes my life to ebb and leak out.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דָּלְפָ֣ה | dalfah | it weeps | H1811 → | |
| נַ֭פְשִׁי | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| מִתּוּגָ֑ה | mitugah | from grief | H8424 → | |
| קַ֝יְּמֵ֗נִי | kaiyemeni | strengthen me | H6965 → | 628 times |
| כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃ | kidvarekha | according to word your | H1697 → | 1440 times |
דָּלְפָ֣הit weeps
dalfahH1811 →
נַ֭פְשִׁיself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
מִתּוּגָ֑הfrom grief
mitugahH8424 →
קַ֝יְּמֵ֗נִיstrengthen me
kaiyemeniH6965 →628 times
כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃according to word your
kidvarekhaH1697 →1440 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
Philippians 4:13I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand…
- 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of…
- Colossians 1:11
being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully
- Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
- Isaiah 40:29–31
He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Isaiah 41:10
Through
Psalms 27:14Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
- Isaiah 40:31
Through
1 Peter 5:10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 4:17
For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation 2:1.3; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 119; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 105:4; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).