Psalms 119:148
My eyes anticipate the watches of night, that I may meditate on Your word.
BSB
ASV
Mine eyes anticipated the night-watches, That I might meditate on thy word.
KJV
Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.
Mine eyes prevent the night watches - Luther renders this, “I wake up early.” The Hebrew word means a “watch” - a part of the night, so called from military watches, or a dividing of the night to “keep guard.” See the notes at Psa 90:4. The idea of the psalmist here is, that he anticipated these regular divisions of the night in order that he might engage in devotion. Instead of waiting for their return, he arose for prayer before they recurred - so much did his heart delight in the service of God. The language would seem to be that of one who was accustomed to pray in these successive “watches” of the night - the early, the middle, and the dawn. This may illustrate what occurs in the life of all who love God. They will have regular seasons of devotion, but they will often anticipate those seasons. They will be in a state of mind which prompts them to pray; when nothing will meet their state of mind but prayer; and when they cannot wait for the regular and ordinary season of devotion - like a hungry man who cannot wait for the usual and regular hour of his meals. The meaning of the phrase, “mine eyes prevent,” is that he awoke before the usual time for devotion. That I might meditate in thy word - See the notes at Psa 1:2.
The walk8
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
Lamentations 2:19Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives…
leads to
I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
Through
Psalms 63:1O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
leads to
I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah
My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
