Psalms 119:53
Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law.
BSB
ASV
Hot indignation hath taken hold upon me, Because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
KJV
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Horror hath taken hold upon me - Has seized me; has overpowered and overwhelmed me. I shudder; I tremble; I am afraid; I am filled with distress. Luther, “I am burnt up.” The Hebrew word - זלעפה zal‛âphâh - is from a verb meaning “to be hot; to glow”; and the idea in the word is that of violent heat; then, a glow or burning, as of a wind - the “simoom” of the desert. See Psa 11:6, where the word is translated “horrible tempest,” in the margin, “burning.” The word occurs only in that passage, in the one before us, and in Lam 5:10, where it is rendered “terrible (famine),” in the margin, “terrors,” or “storms.” The state referred to here is that of one who sees the storm of burning wind and sand approaching; who expects every moment to be overcome and buried; whose soul trembles with consternation. Because of the wicked ... - Their conduct alarms me. Their danger appals me. Their condition overwhelms me. I see them rebelling against God. I see them exposed to his wrath. I see the grave just before them, and the awful scenes of judgment near. I see them about to be cast off, and to sink to endless woe, and my soul is transfixed with horror. The contemplation overwhelms me with uncontrollable anguish. Can such things be? Can people be thus in danger? And can they be calm and composed, when so near such awful horrors? No man can look on the world of despair without horror; no one can truly realize that his fellow-men are exposed to the horrors of that abode without having his soul filled with anguish. Strange that all people do not feel thus - that impenitent people can walk along on the verge of the grave and of hell “without” horror - that pious people, good people, praying people, can look upon their friends in that condition without having their souls filled with unutterable anguish. Compare Psa 119:136; Rom 9:1-4; Luk 19:41.
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
Philippians 3:18For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
leads to
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:
Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.
Through
Jeremiah 13:17But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
leads to
If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse…
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow,…
Through
Psalms 119:158I look on the faithless with loathing because they do not keep Your word.
leads to
Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
Through
Ezra 10:6Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and walked to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. And while he stayed there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he…
leads to
Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you…
