Psalms 119:70
in Psalms 119Their hearts are hard and callous, but I delight in Your law.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Their heart is as fat as grease; But I delight in thy law.
KJV
Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
You are good to Your servant
on Psalms 119:65-72
Affliction is named a teacher here: before it he went astray, and after it he keeps the word. Verse 71 says the affliction was good for him. The law from God's mouth outweighs thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Their heart is curdled as milk" [Psalm 119:70]. Whose, save the proud, whose iniquity he hath said hath been multiplied upon him? But he wisheth it to be understood by this word, and in this passage, that their heart hath become hard. It is used also in a good sense, and is understood to mean, full of grace: for this word, some have also interpreted "curdled." ...
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Their heart is as fat as grease,.... Or tallow, a lump of it, fat or grease congealed.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
fat as grease--spiritually insensible (Ps 17:10; So also affliction of any kind acts as a wholesome discipline in leading the pious more highly to value the truth and promises of God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
"Their heart is as fat as grease." They delight in fatness, but I delight in thee. Their hearts, through sensual indulgence, have grown insensible, coarse, and grovelling; but thou hast saved me from such a fate through thy chastening hand. Proud men grow fat through carnal luxuries, and this makes them prouder still. They riot in their prosperity, and fill their hearts therewith till they become insensible, effeminate, and self indulgent. A greasy heart is something horrible; it is a fatness which makes a man fatuous, a fatty degeneration of the heart which leads to feebleness and death. The fat in such men is killing the life in them. Dryden wrote, In this condition men have no heart except for luxury, their very being seems to swim and stew in the fat of cookery and banqueting. Living on the fat of the land, their nature is subdued to that which they have fed upon; the muscle of their nature has gone to softness and grease. "But I delight in thy law." How much better is it to joy in the law of the Lord than to joy in sensual indulgences! This makes the heart healthy, and keeps the mind lowly. No one who loves holiness has the slightest cause to envy the prosperity of the worldling. Delight in the law elevates and ennobles, while carnal pleasure clogs the intellect and degrades the affections. There is and always ought to be a vivid contrast between the believer and the sensualist, and that contrast is as much seen in the affections of the heart as in the actions of the life: their heart is as fat as grease, and our heart is delighted with the law of the Lord. Our delights are a better test of our character than anything else: as a man's heart is, so is the man. David oiled the wheels of life with his delight in God's law, and not with the fat of sensuality.
"Their heart is as fat as grease." They delight in fatness, but I delight in thee. Their hearts, through sensual indulgence, have grown insensible, coarse, and grovelling; but thou hast saved me from such a fate through thy chastening hand. Proud men grow fat through carnal luxuries, and this makes them prouder still. They riot in their prosperity, and fill their hearts therewith till they become insensible, effeminate, and self indulgent. A greasy heart is something horrible; it is a fatness which makes a man fatuous, a fatty degeneration of the heart which leads to feebleness and death.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Their heart is as fat as grease - They are egregiously stupid, they have fed themselves without fear; they are become flesh-brutalized, and given over to vile affections, and have no kind of spiritual relish: but I delight in thy law - I have, through thy goodness, a spiritual feeling and a spiritual appetite.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Their heart is as fat as grease - They are prospered. They have health, property, influence, comforts of all kinds. heaven appears to smile upon them, and it seems as if it were one effect of a wicked course of life to make people prosperous. See Psa 17:10, note; Psa 73:7, note. But I delight in thy law - Though its observance should not be attended by any such results as seem to follow wickedness, though I am poor, emaciated, pale - disappointed, slandered, persecuted - though my lot in life is among the lowly and the despised - yet I will adhere to my purpose to keep thy law. It is, and it shall be, my delight, whatever may be the effects of so observing it. See Psa 119:35.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| טָפַ֣שׁ | tafash | it is insensitive | H2954 → | |
| כַּחֵ֣לֶב | kachelev | like <the> fat | H2459 → | 92 times |
| לִבָּ֑ם | libam | heart their | H3820 → | 595 times |
| אֲ֝נִ֗י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| תּוֹרָתְךָ֥ | toratekha | law your | H8451 → | 219 times |
| שִֽׁעֲשָֽׁעְתִּי׃ | shiashaeti | I delight | H8173 → | 9 times |
טָפַ֣שׁit is insensitive
tafashH2954 →
כַּחֵ֣לֶבlike <the> fat
kachelevH2459 →92 times
לִבָּ֑םheart their
libamH3820 →595 times
אֲ֝נִ֗יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
תּוֹרָתְךָ֥law your
toratekhaH8451 →219 times
שִֽׁעֲשָֽׁעְתִּי׃I delight
shiashaetiH8173 →9 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
Isaiah 6:10Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
it leads to
- Matthew 13:15
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 28:27
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
- Jeremiah 5:21
“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
- Jeremiah 6:10
To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find…
- John 3:19–20
And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- Matthew 13:15
Through
Acts 28:27For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Isaiah 6:10
Through
Psalms 119:16I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:24
Your testimonies are indeed my delight; they are my counselors.
- Proverbs 3:1
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
- Psalms 119:24
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, ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 119; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).