Psalms 119:95
in Psalms 119The wicked wait to destroy me, but I will ponder Your testimonies.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me; But I will consider thy testimonies.
KJV
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.
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This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Your word, O LORD, is everlasting
on Psalms 119:89-96
Verse 89 calls the word everlasting and fixed in the heavens, and verse 90 gives the same permanence to God's faithfulness through all generations. All things serve God, and the ordinances stand to this day. Verse 96 sets a limit on everything perfect and none on the commandment.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"The ungodly," he says, "have awaited me that they might destroy me; but I have understood Your testimonies" [Psalm 119:95]. What means, "that they might destroy me"? Did he then fear that he should perish altogether at the death of his body? God forbid! And what means, "have awaited me," save that he should consent with them unto iniquity? For then they would destroy him. And he has said why he has not perished: "I understood Your testimonies." The Greek word, Μαρτύρια, sounds more familiarly to the ears of the Church. For though they should slay me not consenting unto them, yet while I confessed Your testimonies (martyria) I should not perish; but they who, that they might destroy me, were waiting till I should consent unto them, tortured me even when I did confess them. Yet he did not leave that which he had understood, looking on it and seeing an end without end, if only he should persevere unto the end.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
"The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies." They were like wild beasts crouching by the way, or highway men waylaying a defenceless traveller; but the Psalmist went on his way without considering them, for he was considering something better, namely, the witness or testimony which God has borne to the sons of men. He did not allow the malice of the wicked to take him off from his holy study of the divine word.
"The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies." They were like wild beasts crouching by the way, or highway men waylaying a defenceless traveller; but the Psalmist went on his way without considering them, for he was considering something better, namely, the witness or testimony which God has borne to the sons of men. He did not allow the malice of the wicked to take him off from his holy study of the divine word. He was so calm that he could "consider;" so holy that he loved to consider the Lord's "testimonies;" so victorious over all their plots that he did not allow them to drive him from his pious contemplations. If the enemy cannot cause us to withdraw our thoughts from holy study, or our feet from holy walking, or our hearts from holy aspirations, he has met with poor success in his assaults. The wicked are the natural enemies of holy men and holy thoughts; if they could, they would not only damage us but destroy us, and if they cannot do this today they will wait for further opportunities, ever hoping that their evil designs may be compassed. They have waited hitherto in vain, and they will have to wait much longer yet; for if we are so unmoved that we do not even give them a thought their hope of destroying us must be a very poor one. Note the double waiting,—the patience of the wicked who watch long and carefully for an opportunity to destroy the godly, and then the patience of the saint who will not quit his meditations, even to quiet his foes. See how the serpent's seed lie in wait as an adder that biteth at the horse's heels; but see how the chosen of the Lord live above their venom, and take no more notice of them than if they had no existence.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me - That is, they have lain in wait; or, they have laid a plan. They are watching the opportunity to do it. But I will consider thy testimonies - I will think of them; I will adhere to them; I will find my support in them; I will not be driven from my adhesion to them by an apprehension of what man can do to me.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִ֤י | li | for me | ||
| קִוּ֣וּ | kivu | they have waited | H6960 → | 49 times |
| רְשָׁעִ֣ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| לְאַבְּדֵ֑נִי | leabedeni | to destroy me | H6 → | 184 times |
| עֵ֝דֹתֶ֗יךָ | ʾedoteikha | testimonies your | H5713 → | 26 times |
| אֶתְבּוֹנָֽן׃ | ʾetbonan | I will consider carefully | H995 → | 170 times |
לִ֤יfor me
li
קִוּ֣וּthey have waited
kivuH6960 →49 times
רְשָׁעִ֣יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
לְאַבְּדֵ֑נִיto destroy me
leabedeniH6 →184 times
עֵ֝דֹתֶ֗יךָtestimonies your
ʾedoteikhaH5713 →26 times
אֶתְבּוֹנָֽן׃I will consider carefully
ʾetbonanH995 →170 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
Psalms 119:69Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.
it leads to
- Job 13:4
You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.
- Matthew 5:11–12
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
- Psalms 109:2–3
For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.
- Psalms 119:157
Though my persecutors and foes are many, I have not turned from Your testimonies.
- Matthew 26:59–68
Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.
- Job 13:4
Through
Psalms 119:31I cling to Your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame.
it leads to
- Romans 5:5
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
- Proverbs 23:23
Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
- John 8:31
So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.
- Romans 5:5
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 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, 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.