Psalms 119:60
in Psalms 119I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I made haste, and delayed not, To observe thy commandments.
KJV
I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
9 notes on this verseLet each of these considerations find entrance into your mind and check the swollen growth of wrath. By such preparations and by acquiring such dispositions, we quiet the leaping and throbbing of the heart and restore it to tranquil steadiness. This, indeed, is the implication in the words of David: "I am ready and am not troubled." You must, therefore, repress the violent and frenzied movement of the soul by recalling the example of saintly people. How gently, for instance, the mighty David bore the fury of Shimei.
This site's exposition
The LORD is my portion
on Psalms 119:57-64
Portion is priestly language: at Numbers 18:20 the LORD tells Aaron that He Himself is Aaron's portion and inheritance. Here an ordinary worshiper claims it. He turns his steps at once, hurrying without hesitating, and rises at midnight to give thanks.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Lastly, when he had received this blessing of grace, he saith, "I was ready, and was not disturbed, that I may keep Thy commandments" (ver. 60). Which some have rendered, "to keeping Thy commandments," some "that I should keep," others "to keep," the Greek being τοῦ φυλάξασθαι.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. As soon as he was sensible of his duty, he immediately complied with it; he consulted not with flesh and blood, but at once yielded a cheerful obedience to the commands of God. Instances of evangelical obedience of this kind we have in the three thousand converts, in Saul, and in the jailer and his house, Act 2:41.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Sincere desires for God's favor, penitence, and activity in a new obedience, truly evince the sincerity of those who profess to find God a portion (Nu 18:20;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
"I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments." He made all speed to get back into the royal road from which he had wandered, and to run in that road upon the King's errands. Speed in repentance and speed in obedience are two excellent things. We are too often in haste to sin; O that we may be in a greater hurry to obey. Delay in sin is increase of sin. To be slow to keep the commands is really to break them. There is much evil in a lagging pace when God's command is to be followed. A holy alacrity in service is much to be cultivated. It is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, and the preceding verses describe the method of it: we are made to perceive and mourn our errors, we are led to return to the right path, and then we are eager to make up for lost time by dashing forward to fulfil the precept. Whatever may be the slips and wanderings of an honest heart, there remains enough of true life in it to produce ardent piety when once it is quickened by the visitations of God. The Psalmist entreated for mercy, and when he received it he became eager and vehement in the Lord's ways. He had always loved them, and hence when he was enriched with grace he displayed great vivacity and delight in them. He made double speed; for positively he "made haste," and negatively he refused to yield to any motive which suggested procrastination, —he "delayed not." Thus he made rapid advances and accomplished much service, fulfilling thereby the vow which is recorded in Psa 119:57: "I said that I would keep thy words." The commands which he was so eager to obey were not ordinances of man, but precepts of the Most High. Many are zealots to obey custom and society, and yet they are slack in serving God. It is a crying shame that men should be served post haste, and that God's work should have the go by, or be performed with dreamy negligence.
"I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments." He made all speed to get back into the royal road from which he had wandered, and to run in that road upon the King's errands. Speed in repentance and speed in obedience are two excellent things. We are too often in haste to sin; O that we may be in a greater hurry to obey. Delay in sin is increase of sin. To be slow to keep the commands is really to break them. There is much evil in a lagging pace when God's command is to be followed.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thirdly. I made haste, and delayed not - He did this with the utmost speed; and did not trifle with his convictions, nor seek to drown the voice of conscience. The original word, which we translate delayed not, is amazingly emphatical. ולא התמהמהתי velo hithmahmahti, I did not stand what-what-whating; or, as we used to express the same sentiment, shilly-shallying with myself: I was determined, and so set out. The Hebrew word, as well as the English, strongly marks indecision of mind, positive action being suspended, because the mind is so unfixed as not to be able to make a choice.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I made haste - This language further describes the process of conversion. There was no delay; there was no excuse offered. He acted at once under his conviction of what was right. He did not ask permission to defer it to a future time; he did not attempt to avoid the duty; not plead inability; he did not give himself merely to the “use of means;” he did not rely on prayer, and reading, and reflection; but “he did the thing, and he did it at once.” This is conversion; and if all convicted sinners would follow this example, and do at once that which they are commanded to do, and which they know they ought to do, there would be in no case any difficulty about conversion, for the main difficulty in conversion lies in the fact that the sinner is not willing to obey God at once; that he will not break away from his sins; that he endeavors to excuse himself; that he pleads for delay; that he waits for God to do what he himself ought to do. And delayed not to keep thy commandments - I did not continue to go on in a course of sin, but I forsook my sin and obeyed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חַ֭שְׁתִּי | chashti | I have made haste | H2363 → | 20 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְתִּי | hitmahmaheti | I have delayed | H4102 → | |
| לִ֝שְׁמֹ֗ר | lishmor | to keep | H8104 → | 468 times |
| מִצְוֹתֶֽיךָ׃ | mitzvoteikha | commandments your | H4687 → | 181 times |
חַ֭שְׁתִּיI have made haste
chashtiH2363 →20 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְתִּיI have delayed
hitmahmahetiH4102 →
לִ֝שְׁמֹ֗רto keep
lishmorH8104 →468 times
מִצְוֹתֶֽיךָ׃commandments your
mitzvoteikhaH4687 →181 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
Ecclesiastes 9:10Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
it leads to
- Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,
- Ephesians 5:16
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
- Romans 12:11
Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
- Psalms 6:5
For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
- Ecclesiastes 11:6
Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.
- Colossians 3:23
Through
Proverbs 27:1Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
it leads to
- James 4:13–16
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
- Luke 12:19–20
Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- 2 Corinthians 6:2
For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!
- James 4:13–16
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 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); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 119; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILY AGAINST THOSE PROVE TO ANGER; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.