Psalms 119:29
in Psalms 119Remove me from the path of deceit and graciously grant me Your law.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Remove from me the way of falsehood; And grant me thy law graciously.
KJV
Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
8 notes on this verse"Take Thou from me the way of iniquity" [Psalm 119:29]. And since the law of works has entered in, that sin might abound; [Romans 5:20] he adds, "And pity me according to Your law." By what law, save by the law of faith? Hear the Apostle: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works. Nay: but by the law of faith." [Romans 3:27] This is the law of faith, whereby we believe and pray that it may be granted us through grace; that we may effect that which we cannot fulfil through ourselves; that we may not, ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish our own, fail to submit ourselves unto the righteousness of God. [Romans 10:3]
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 Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Remove from me the way of lying,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
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.
"Remove from me the way of lying." This is the way of sin, error, idolatry, folly, self righteousness, formalism, hypocrisy. David would not only be kept from that way, but have it kept from him; he cannot endure to have it near him, he would have it swept away from his sight. He desired to be right and upright, true and in the truth; but he feared that a measure of falsehood would cling to him unless the Lord took it away, and therefore he earnestly cried for its removal. False motives may at times sway us, and we may fall into mistaken notions of our own spiritual condition before God, which erroneous conceits may be kept up by a natural prejudice in our own layout, and so we may be confirmed in a delusion, and abide under error unless grace comes to the rescue. No true heart can rest in a false view of itself; it finds no anchorage, but is tossed to and fro till it gets into the truth and the truth into it. The true born child of heaven sighs out and cries against a lie, desiring to have it taken away as much as a man desires to be set at a distance from a venomous serpent or a raging lion. "And grant me thy law graciously." He is in a gracious state who looks upon the law itself as a gift of grace. David wishes to have the law opened up to his understanding, engraved upon his heart, and carried out in his life; for this he seeks the Lord, and pleads for it as a gracious grant. No doubt he viewed this as the only mode of deliverance from the power of falsehood: if the law be not in our hearts the lie will enter. David would seem to have remembered those times when, according to the eastern fashion, he had practised deceit for his own preservation, and he saw that he had been weak and erring on that point; therefore he was bowed down in spirit and begged to be quickened and delivered from transgressing in that manner any more.
"Remove from me the way of lying." This is the way of sin, error, idolatry, folly, self righteousness, formalism, hypocrisy. David would not only be kept from that way, but have it kept from him; he cannot endure to have it near him, he would have it swept away from his sight. He desired to be right and upright, true and in the truth; but he feared that a measure of falsehood would cling to him unless the Lord took it away, and therefore he earnestly cried for its removal.
The way of lying - The propensity to falsity and prevarication, whatsoever is contrary to truth. Remove me from its solicitations, and remove it from me. “Grant me thy law graciously;” give it to me as a rule of moral conduct; but give it to me graciously through the gospel, and then it will not be the letter that killeth, but will be sanctified to me, so as to become to me holy, just, and Good.
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
Remove from me - Take it from me; cause it to depart; let me not be under its influence or power. The way of lying - Every false, deceitful, hypocritical way. We are not to suppose that the psalmist was addicted to lying, but that he felt he was, like all people, in danger of acting from false views, from wrong motives, or under the influence of delusion and deceit. It is a prayer that he might always be sincere and truthful. No man who knows his own heart can doubt the propriety of this prayer. On nothing does a man need more to examine himself; in nothing does he more need the grace of God, than that he may be sincere. And grant me thy law graciously - The knowledge of thy law; grace to obey thy law. The single word rendered “grant graciously” is a word which implies the idea of mercy or favor. It was not a thing which he claimed as a right; it was that for which he was dependent on the mercy of God.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דֶּֽרֶךְ־ | derekhoshe- | a way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| שֶׁ֭קֶר | sheker | falsehood | H8267 → | 113 times |
| הָסֵ֣ר | haser | remove | H5493 → | 299 times |
| מִמֶּ֑נִּי | mimeni | from me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| וְֽתוֹרָתְךָ֥ | vetoratekha | and law your | H8451 → | 219 times |
| חָנֵּֽנִי׃ | choneni | show favor to me | H2603 → | 78 times |
דֶּֽרֶךְ־a way of
derekhoshe-H1870 →707 times
שֶׁ֭קֶרfalsehood
shekerH8267 →113 times
הָסֵ֣רremove
haserH5493 →299 times
מִמֶּ֑נִּיfrom me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
וְֽתוֹרָתְךָ֥and law your
vetoratekhaH8451 →219 times
חָנֵּֽנִי׃show favor to me
choneniH2603 →78 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
1 John 1:8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
it leads to
- Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Ecclesiastes 7:20
Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- James 3:2
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
- Isaiah 53:6
We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
- 1 John 2:4
If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
- Romans 3:23
Through
Proverbs 30:8Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 6:6–8
Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
- 1 Timothy 6:6–8
Through
Psalms 119:37Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.
it leads to
- 1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
- 1 John 2:16
Through
1 John 2:4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
it leads to
- 1 John 1:6
If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
- 1 John 1:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; 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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).