Psalms 119:22
Remove my scorn and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies.
BSB
ASV
Take away from me reproach and contempt; For I have kept thy testimonies.
KJV
Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
"O turn from me shame and rebuke; for I have sought out Thy testimonies" (ver. 22). Testimonies are called in Greek μαρτύρια, which word we now use for the Latin word: whence those who on account of their testimony to Christ have been brought low by various sufferings, and have contended unto death for the truth, are not called testes, but by the Greek term Martyrs. Since then ye hear in this term one more familiar and grateful, let us take these words as if it were said, "O turn from me shame and rebuke; because I have sought out Thy martyrdoms." When the body of Christ speaketh thus, doth it consider it any punishment to hear rebuke and shame from the ungodly and the proud, since it rather reacheth the crown by this means? Why then doth it pray that it should be removed from it as something heavy and insupportable, save because, as I said, it prayeth for its very enemies, to whom it seeth it is destructive, to cast the holy name of Christ as a reproach to Christians. ...For my enemies, whom Thou enjoinest to be loved by me, who more and more die and are lost, when they despise Thy martyrdoms and accuse them in me, will indeed be recalled to life and be found, if they reverence Thy martyrdoms in me. Thus it hath happened: this we see. Behold, martyrdom in the name of Christ, both with men and in this world, is not only not a disgrace, but a great ornament: behold, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in the sight of men, "precious is the death of His Saints;" behold, His martyrs are not only not despised, but honoured with great distinctions. ...
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
1 Peter 2:20How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
leads to
For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.
For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
Through
Psalms 119:39Turn away the disgrace I dread, for Your judgments are good.
leads to
Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.
and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.
Through
Psalms 39:8Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of fools.
leads to
You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
