If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
If they break my statutes, And keep not my commandments;
If My statutes they pollute, And My commands do not keep,
If they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments:
Psalms — The canon's longest book — 150 Psalms edited into five doxology-bookended books, composed across a millennium, attributed to David, Asaph, Korah's sons, Moses, Solomon, Heman, Ethan, and anonymous voices. A ''Torah of David''; the Bible's longest continuous liturgical-devotional corpus.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches4
Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”
My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
The walk5
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 55:20My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
leads to
I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.
About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.
if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,
Too long have I dwelt among those who hate peace.
They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
The whole web at once: see the Arc.
Voices6
If they break my statutes,....
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
. Ver. 31. If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments. The dreadful "if" is suggested again, and the sad case is stated in other forms. But if it should be so, what then? Death and rejection? Ah, no; Blessed be God, No! If their sin be negative or positive, if it be forsaking or profanation; if either judgments or commandments or both be violated, yet there is not a word as to final destruction, but the very reverse. Legalism will import its ifs, but the Lord slays the ifs as fast as they rise.
Then--when the covenant was established, of whose execution the exalted views of God now given furnish assurance. thou . . . to thy holy one--or godly saint, object of favor (Ps 4:3). Nathan is meant (2Sa 7:17; 1Ch 17:3-15). laid help--literally, "given help." David was chosen and then exalted.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed
This relation is perpetual with David's descendants, as a whole typical in official position of his last greatest descendant. Hence though in personal relations any of them might be faithless and so punished, their typical relation shall continue. His oath confirms His promise, and the most enduring objects of earth and heaven illustrate its perpetual force (Ps 72:5, 7, 17).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed
(1.) If we apply it to David, by his seed we are to understand his successors, Solomon and the following kings of Judah, who descended from the loins of David. It is supposed that they might degenerate, and not walk in the spirit and steps of their father David; in such a case they must expect to come under divine rebukes, such as the house of David was at this time under,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
There are spots which are the spots of God's children, Deut. xxxii. Many corruptions there are in the bowels of the church, as well as in the hearts of those who are the members of it, and these corruptions break out.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
