CHAPTER 119

AUTHOR UNKNOWN: ALEPH, BLESSINGS OF THE WORD OF GOD

¹Blessed are the undefiled in the Way, who walk in the Law of the LORD. (There are twenty-two Stanzas in this Psalm, as there are twenty-two letters [words] in the Hebrew alphabet. Consequently, the first Stanza begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, going all through the twenty-two Stanzas, with each beginning with the corresponding Hebrew letter.

The word undefiled [perfect] can only be spoken of the Messiah. He Alone walked perfectly in the Law of the Lord.)

²Blessed are they who keep His Testimonies, and who seek Him with the whole heart. (Also, there are ten different words used throughout this Psalm, which are each a word for the Bible, actually in all 176 Verses, with the exception of four: 90, 121, 122, and 132. The words are, Way, Testimonies, Commandments, Word, Statutes, Precepts, Judgments, Laws, Truth, Ordinances. We are to seek Him with the whole heart and not a divided heart.)

³They also do no iniquity: they walk in His Ways. (To do no iniquity is the goal. The Messiah Alone did this.)

⁴You have commanded us to keep Your Precepts diligently. (This is to be the whole duty of man [Eccl. 12:13].)

⁵O that my ways were directed to keep Your Statutes! (Due to the Fall, the ways of man are the opposite of the Ways of God. Since the Cross, Born-Again man now has a Divine Nature. Therefore, upon Faith directed toward Christ and the Cross, a person has the help of the Holy Spirit and, through Christ, the Statutes are kept.)

⁶Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all Your Commandments. (Unless we respect all of Gods Commandments, there will be shame within our hearts, and rightly so.)

⁷I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned Your righteous Judgments. (The moral condition of the heart is decided by obedience to the Word of God; consequently, true worship depends upon true knowledge of the Word.)

⁸I will keep Your Statutes: O forsake me not utterly. (The sense of this Verse is: Do not in any case take away this Lamp in which I am trusting, else I shall stumble in the darkness and fall.)

BETH, PERSONAL HOLINESS THROUGH THE WORD

⁹Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Your Word. (The applied Word alone can cleanse.)

¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought You: O let me not wander from Your Commandments. (The Messiah Alone could say that He always sought the Lord with His whole heart and never did wander from the Commandments of the Lord.)

¹¹Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You. (Before the lips can fitly declare the teaching of the Scripture, the heart must be home to the Scriptures. Its Words form the rule of Faith, and subjection to its Judgments is the secret of a life of victory.)

¹²Blessed are You, O LORD: teach me Your Statutes. (Revelation knowledge of the Bible is the only true knowledge of the Word there is. This comes about by the Lord teaching us, which He does through the fivefold Ministry [Eph. 4:11], or directly by the Holy Spirit [Gal. 1:12].)

¹³With my lips have I declared all the Judgments of Your Mouth. (This is the obligation of every Believer, and especially the Preacher. Regrettably, with many, some Judgments are declared, but not all. The Messiah declared them all, even though it aroused great anger in the hearts of the religious hierarchy.)

¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of Your Testimonies, as much as in all riches. (Our learning and understanding of the Word of God must be placed at the very top of all things sought. It is by far the most important.)

¹⁵I will meditate in Your Precepts, and have respect unto Your Ways. (The phrase, meditate in Your Precepts, is the secret of life.)

¹⁶I will delight myself in Your Statutes: I will not forget Your Word. (The Messiah delighted Himself constantly in the Word of God. This was His delight. What is your delight?)

GIMEL, PRAYER AND HUNGER FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

¹⁷Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live, and keep Your Word. (The reader will find that the first four Verses of this Stanza express the activities of the heart toward God excited by the study of, and the obedience to, His Word. The second four Verses express the contempt and hatred that an obedient person receives from man.)

¹⁸Open You my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law. (There are wondrous things in the Word, but the eyes must be unveiled in order to see them. To see them, the reader must sit where Mary of Bethany sat [Lk. 10:3842].)

¹⁹I am a stranger in the Earth: hide not Your Commandments from me. (The Bible makes its lover a stranger in this world, but it is a satisfying companion for the lonely exile. The Bible-lover will find no companionship among those who deny its contents.)

²⁰My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto Your Judgments at all times. (This is an expression used of deep passion or intense longing, and shows to what extent the Psalmist hungered for Righteousness [Mat. 5:6].)

²¹You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, which do err from Your Commandments. (Those who are too proud to subject their wills to the teaching of the Scriptures bring a curse, and not a blessing, upon themselves, and become the bitter persecutors of those who make the Scriptures their delight.)

²²Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept Your Testimonies. (The sense of this Verse is for the lover of the Bible not to allow reproach and contempt to weaken his love for the Word of God.)

²³Princes also did sit and speak against me: but Your servant did meditate in Your Statutes. (All of these Passages speak of Christ as our example. The mightiest in Israel spoke against Christ, but His solace was Your Statutes.)

²⁴Your Testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. (What a rebuke to a worldly Church that seeks the counsel of men from a man-made philosophy with its man-made answers. The Word of God Alone should be our Counselor.)

DALETH, GETTING INSTRUCTION FROM THE WORD

²⁵My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken You me according to Your Word. (The Messiahs love for the Bible and His Perfect Obedience to its teaching alone illustrate the statements of this Stanza. The idea is, the soul will fall into the dust [defeat], unless it is quickened by the Word of God.)

²⁶I have declared my ways, and You heard me: teach me Your Statutes. (Such a heart attempts to hide nothing from God.)

²⁷Make me to understand the way of Your Precepts: so shall I talk of Your wondrous Works. (The entire life, inward and outward, must be subjected to the searchlight of the Holy Scriptures.)

²⁸My soul melts for heaviness: strengthen

You me according unto Your Word. (Once again, the Holy Spirit calls our attention to the difficulties of the way, and that strength can come only through Your Word.)

²⁹Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me Your Law graciously. (This is a request by the Messiah, and it also should be our request that all falsity, prevarication, and everything that is contrary to Truth, or that is the opposite of the Way of the Truth, would be removed from us.)

³⁰I have chosen the Way of Truth: Your Judgments have I laid before me. (The Way of Truth is the Bible.)

³¹I have stuck unto Your Testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame. (The word stuck actually means I have been glued to. Let it be known that being glued to Your Testimonies is not one way of victory, but the only way.)

³²I will run the way of Your Commandments, when You shall enlarge my heart. (To enlarge the heart means to arouse its moral affections. To understand and profit by the Scriptures, contrition of heart, rather than cleverness of head, is necessary.)

HE, GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING

³³Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your Statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. (Allow me to remind the Bible Student that these petitions are the heartthrob and cry of the Messiah; therefore, if they are of Him, they should be of us.)

³⁴Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your Law; yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart. (This Stanza teaches that if the Bible Student disassociates the Book from its Author, his eyes will be unopened, his mind uninstructed, his heart unaffected, and his feet unled.)

³⁵Make me to go in the path of Your Commandments; for therein do I delight. (The sense of this Verse is that the human heart is so turned away from the Paths of God that the Holy Spirit must use Power to bring us back to the correct path, and will do so only upon the petitioning cry of the searching heart.)

³⁶Incline my heart unto Your Testimonies, and not to covetousness. (The Bible is more precious than gold. It can fill the broken heart with hope and strength. That is something money cannot do.)

³⁷Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken You me in Your Way. (Any teaching that does not harmonize with the Bible is vanity.)

³⁸Stablish Your Word unto Your servant, who is devoted to Your fear. (There is little devotion to the Word of God when there is little devotion to the fear of God.)

³⁹Turn away my reproach which I fear: for Your Judgments are good. (The Lord Alone can turn away the reproach of sin.)

⁴⁰Behold, I have longed after Your Precepts: quicken me in Your Righteousness. (The Righteousness spoken of is Gods Righteousness, which He imputes to Believers.)

VAU, I TRUST IN YOUR WORD

⁴¹Let Your mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even Your Salvation, according to Your Word. (A Salvation which is not according to Gods Word is a false salvation. It can neither silence mockers, nor influence kings.)

⁴²So shall I have wherewith to answer him who reproaches me: for I trust in Your Word. (The world reproaches those who trust solely in the Word of God.)

⁴³And take not the word of Truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in Your Judgments. (The Psalmist is actually saying that the Word of God is his only hope, as it is likewise our only hope.)

⁴⁴So shall I keep Your Law continually forever and ever. (Only the Messiah could say such.)

⁴⁵And I will walk at liberty: for I seek Your Precepts. (The Bible alone brings liberty.)

⁴⁶I will speak of Your Testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. (Multitudes believe that a life shut in-between the covers of the Bible must necessarily be a narrow one. The opposite is found by experience to be the truth.)

⁴⁷And I will delight myself in Your Commandments, which I have loved. (The love and delight of the Psalmist comes from Your Commandments, and not the things of the world.)

⁴⁸My hands also will I lift up unto Your Commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in Your Statutes. (Over and over, the Holy Spirit draws our attention to mediating in His Statutes. This is the answer for stress, nervous disorders, emotional disturbances, and all other such problems.)

ZAIN, GODS WORD, THE SOURCE OF COMFORT

⁴⁹Remember the Word unto Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. (The Messiah expresses to Jehovah the fact of total dependence being placed in the Word.)

⁵⁰This is my comfort in my affliction: for Your Word has quickened me. (The Messiah does not deny affliction, nor does He offer any direction that guarantees no affliction, but He does offer hope in the Word of God, which quickens me.)

⁵¹The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from Your Law. (The proud deride the Promises of the Bible, but the humble rest upon them and hold fast to them.)

⁵²I remembered Your Judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself. (The comfort that every soul needs can only be derived from the Bible.)

⁵³Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked who forsake Your Law. (A holy anger and a just indignation become the true witness for God and for His Truth.)

⁵⁴Your Statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. (The word songs is an indication that David may have been the author of this Psalm.)

⁵⁵I have remembered Your Name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept Your Law. (This speaks of meditation on the Word and the Name in the night of problems.)

⁵⁶This I had, because I kept Your Precepts. (The Messiah Alone satisfies the language of this section, as He Alone illustrates the faith, loyalty, and love of all the other sections of this Psalm.)

CHETH, SATISFACTION BY THE WORD

⁵⁷You are my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep Your Words. (The bane of the modern Church is that portions devised by man attempt to usurp authority over the portions given by God.)

⁵⁸I intreated Your favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to Your Word. (Favor means the conscious Presence of God.)

⁵⁹I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Your Testimonies. (Turn to the Bible; always turn to the Bible!)

⁶⁰I made haste, and delayed not to keep Your Commandments. (This could only be said of the Messiah.)

⁶¹The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten Your Law. (The perfect keeping of the perfect Law did not keep away the bands of the wicked, nor their insidious activity, but it did give a comfort that nothing else could give.)

⁶²At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto You because of Your righteous Judgments. (The sense of this Psalm and this Passage is that neither suffering nor ease could weaken the affection of the heart for the Scriptures.)

⁶³I am a companion of all them who fear You, and of them who keep Your Precepts. (The companions of the Messiah were not the religious leaders of His day.)

⁶⁴The Earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy: teach Me Your Statutes. (As the adversity of Verse Sixty-one failed to turn the Messiah away from the Bible, so neither did the prosperity of Verse Sixty-four weaken His fidelity to it.)

TETH, TEACH ME GOOD JUDGMENT

⁶⁵You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according unto Your Word. (Fidelity to Your Word ensures Blessings from the Lord. He honors nothing else.)

⁶⁶Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed Your Commandments. (According to the Bible, immediately upon conversion, intelligence instantly increases.)

⁶⁷Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Your Word. (As a True Priest and Advocate, Christ presents Himself as the guilty One and, at the same time, credits us with the perfection of the obedience which only He personally rendered to the Word of God.)

⁶⁸You are good, and do good; teach me Your Statutes. (The Statutes of God fill the Earth with goodness.)

⁶⁹The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep Your Precepts with my whole heart. (The hatred of the proud against the lover of the Bible makes the Bible more precious to the meek.)

⁷⁰Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in Your Law. (A heart as fat as grease is insensible and stupid. Such a heart is incompetent to judge the Commandments of God.)

⁷¹It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your Statutes. (Chastening and discipline make the Bible more precious and the life more fruitful. They are helpful Bible teachers.)

⁷²The Law of Your mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. (The possession of the Scriptures is greater wealth than all the treasure the world contains.)

JOD, RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE WORD

⁷³Your hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn Your Commandments. (The True Speaker is Christ, and the words apply to Him in perfection, as they apply to others of necessity only in part.)

⁷⁴They who fear You will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in Your Word. (Israel will be glad in the coming day, when they see Christ.)

⁷⁵I know, O LORD, that Your Judgments are right, and that You in faithfulness have afflicted me. (In the strictest interpretation, this Passage applies to Christ in His Incarnation.)

⁷⁶Let, I pray You, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your Word unto Your servant. (If one will notice, the Messiah here does not pray for the removal of these afflictions, but instead for the enjoyment of compensating comforts, but only such comforts as accorded with Gods Word.)

⁷⁷Let Your tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for Your Law is my delight. (Delight in the Hebrew Text stands in the plural number and, therefore, means supreme delight.)

⁷⁸Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in Your Precepts. (This pertains to the Scribes and Pharisees, who dealt perversely with Christ. He retreated to the Word of the Lord.)

⁷⁹Let those who fear You turn unto me, and those who have known Your Testimonies. (Those who feared God turned to the Messiah. Those who did not fear God turned to the proud [Pharisees].)

⁸⁰Let my heart be sound in Your Statutes; that I be not ashamed. (Soundness in the Word of God is the criteria.)

CAPH, ALL YOUR COMMANDMENTS ARE FAITHFUL

⁸¹My soul faints for Your Salvation: but I hope in Your Word. (No man who longs for and faints for Salvation from God will go unheard [Mat. 5:6].)

⁸²My eyes fail for Your Word, saying, When will You comfort me? (The first part of this Scripture could be translated, I will not stop looking for the fulfillment of Your Word and, in fact, will look, if necessary, until I go blind.)

⁸³For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget Your Statutes. (This pertains to Israels rejection of Christ and the constant persecution heaped upon Him by the Pharisees. His hope was in the Word.)

⁸⁴How many are the days of Your servant? when will You execute Judgment on them who persecute me? (Christ, as Lord, could, at any moment, have destroyed His persecutors, but, as Man, He would not take vengeance into His Own hands, for vengeance belongs unto God [Rom. 12:19].)

⁸⁵The proud have dug pits for me, which are not after Your Law. (The proud are the self-righteous Pharisees. Mat., Chpt. 15, records some of the pits that the proud dug for Him.)

⁸⁶All Your Commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help You me. (The sense of the first part of this Passage is that even though God did not deem it desirable to lift the persecution, still, the Word of God would see Him through.)

⁸⁷They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not Your Precepts. (Almost means quickly. The sense of the Verse is: they wished to quickly make an end of me.)

⁸⁸Quicken me after Your lovingkindness; so shall I keep the Testimony of Your mouth. (The word quicken means make alive.)

LAMED, GODS WORD IS ETERNAL

⁸⁹Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in Heaven. (Gods Word is eternal.)

⁹⁰Your faithfulness is unto all generations: You have established the Earth, and it abides. (All man-made religious laws change, and change constantly. The Word of God never changes.)

⁹¹They continue this day according to Your Ordinances: for all are Your servants. (The heavens are Gods creation, and are upheld by His Word [Heb. 11:3].)

⁹²Unless Your Law had been my delights, I should then have perished in my affliction. (Gods Law was the Messiahs delights, meaning the supreme joy of His Heart.)

⁹³I will never forget Your Precepts: for with them You have quickened me. (The Messiah gives all the credit to the Bible for victory, sustenance, power, and for keeping Him alive.)

⁹⁴I am Yours, save me; for I have sought Your Precepts. (The word save signifies preservation through trial and opposition.)

⁹⁵The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider Your Testimonies. (The wicked in the Messiahs day referred to the Pharisees.)

⁹⁶I have seen an end of all perfection: but Your Commandment is exceeding broad. (There is an end or boundary to the extent of Gods Work in Creation, but no boundary to His Word in Revelation it is infinite and eternal.)

MEM, I LOVE YOUR LAW

⁹⁷O how I love Your Law! it is my meditation all the day. (Even though all the Passages in this Psalm refer to the Messiah and His love for Gods Word, still, the Holy Spirit lifts the Greater Son of David to a higher exclamation in this thirteenth chorus than all previously given. Once again, we are drawn to His constant meditation.)

⁹⁸You through Your Commandments have made me wiser than my enemies: for they are ever with me. (The pronoun they refers to the Commandments.)

⁹⁹I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Your testimonies are my meditation. (Even as a young boy, Jesus knew more about the Word of God than His teachers [Lk. 2:4049].)

¹⁰⁰I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your Precepts. (The claim is made, and accurately so, that Christ understood more about God and His Word than even the great Patriarchs and Prophets of the past all because of the knowledge of and the keeping of Your Precepts.)

¹⁰¹I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Your Word. (Only Christ could make such a statement!)

¹⁰²I have not departed from Your Judgments: for You have taught me. (In previous choruses of this One Hundred Nineteenth Psalm, we have witnessed the petition of the Holy Spirit to serve as Teacher. We have here the exclamation that the petition was heard and granted.)

¹⁰³How sweet are Your Words unto my taste! yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (As in the previous Stanza, the Messiah sang of the strength of Gods Word, so here He sings of its sweetness.)

¹⁰⁴Through Your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (This Stanza closes with the statement that the wisdom which flows from the Scriptures destroys all desire for false teaching.)

NUN, GODS WORD IS A LAMP AND A LIGHT

¹⁰⁵Your Word is a Lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my path. (The only Lamp in the world that produces true Spiritual Light is the Bible.)

¹⁰⁶I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep Your righteous Judgments. (The Messiah has sworn His fidelity to the Word, and by no less than Himself.)

¹⁰⁷I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto Your Word. (Even though the Path did lighten and gladden, still, it was a Path of affliction from God. Some modern doctrines have attempted to make the Path golden. It is not! It is a Path that is freighted with tests. The tests are from God.)

¹⁰⁸Accept, I beseech You, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me Your Judgments. (The freewill Offering spoken of here is the Sacrifice of Praise [Heb. 13:15].)

¹⁰⁹My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget Your Law. (To have the life in the hand means to be in deadly danger. This danger was from the Pharisees.)

¹¹⁰The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from Your Precepts. (These snares were laid by the Pharisees [Mat. 26:34].)

¹¹¹Your Testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. (The Bible was not only a present help for the Messiah, but, in fact, stands as His security forever, because it never changes.)

¹¹²I have inclined my heart to perform Your Statutes alway, even unto the end. (A lamp is useless unless used.)

SAMECH, GODS WORD IS A REFUGE AND A SHIELD

¹¹³I hate vain thoughts: but Your Law do I love. (The statement, I hate vain thoughts, means I hate false teaching.)

¹¹⁴You are my hiding place and my shield: I hope in Your Word. (The Law inspired the confidence of the Messiah, and its Author, the Holy Spirit, was His hiding place and shield.)

¹¹⁵Depart from me, you evildoers: for I will keep the Commandments of my God. (The choice then, and the choice now, is either mans ways or Gods Ways.)

¹¹⁶Uphold me according unto Your Word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

¹¹⁷Hold You me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto Your Statutes continually. (Uphold me and hold me up are noteworthy verbs in the Hebrew Text. They represent Gods supporting the Believer from both above and beneath carried and, at the same time, held by the hand.)

¹¹⁸You have trodden down all them who err from Your Statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. (The Messiah gives the Glory to God for the failure of these false teachers to detach Him from the Bible.)

¹¹⁹You put away all the wicked of the Earth like dross: therefore I love Your Testimonies.

¹²⁰My flesh trembles for fear of You; and I am afraid of Your Judgments. (These two Scriptures are clear: all false teachers and false teaching will ultimately be doomed.)

AIN, THE PSALMIST HAS OBEYED GODS LAWS

¹²¹I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to my oppressors. (Christ, being perfect, affirms in this Stanza the moral perfection of the Bible and declares it to be His Rule of life.)

¹²²Be surety for Your Servant for good: let not the proud oppress me. (Here, He prays for deliverance from His detractors and bases His claim to be delivered from them on His integrity, as is outlined in the previous Verse, on His Relationship to God, and on His Loyalty to the Scriptures.)

¹²³My eyes fail for Your Salvation, and for the Word of Your Righteousness. (The word fail expresses longing and desire.)

¹²⁴Deal with Your servant according unto Your mercy, and teach me Your Statutes.

¹²⁵I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your Testimonies. (Twice in these two Verses the Messiah implores the Holy Spirit to teach Him the Word of God. In the Incarnate state, therefore, as Man, He had to learn exactly as we do.)

¹²⁶It is time for You, LORD, to work: for they have made void Your Law. (The words, to work, mean to intervene.)

¹²⁷Therefore I love Your Commandments above gold; yes, above fine gold. (He Who was Himself the Incarnate Word of God reveals here His Affection for the Written Word of God.)

¹²⁸Therefore I esteem all Your Precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. (In this Verse, the Messiah testifies to the inspiration, moral perfection, inerrancy, and authority of the Bible, and declares that its effect as a moral teacher is to beget hostility to evil. He says that all its Precepts concerning all things are right.)

PE, THE ENTRANCE OF YOUR WORDS GIVES LIGHT

¹²⁹Your Testimonies are wonderful: therefore does my soul keep them. (Immanuels love for the Scriptures and His grief because men ignore them are the keynotes of this Stanza.)

¹³⁰The entrance of Your Words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple. (The word simple means sincere. To the sincere heart God will reveal Himself.)

¹³¹I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for Your Commandments. (This Passage exemplifies the absolute thirst for the Word of God by the Messiah.)

¹³²Look you upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto those who love Your Name. (Should be translated, as You give judgment to those who love Your Name.)

¹³³Order my steps in Your Word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. (Could be translated: Guide my steps by Your Word, cause my conduct to harmonize with the Bible, and let not any iniquitous action of man have power against me.)

¹³⁴Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep Your Precepts. (His prayer for deliverance from oppression was not in order that He might have leisure to enjoy Himself, but liberty to practice the teachings of the Bible.)

¹³⁵Make Your face to shine upon Your servant; and teach me Your Statutes. (The phrase, Make Your face to shine, means Give me Your Favor or Grace.)

¹³⁶Rivers of waters run down my eyes, because they keep not Your Law. (In a previous Stanza [Vs. 126], the Messiah mourned because men made void His Fathers Law; here He weeps because they did not prize and obey it.)

TZADDI, YOUR WORD IS VERY PURE

¹³⁷Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are Your Judgments. (The extolling of the Word of God in these Passages is a wonder to behold, and by the Messiah, at that!)

¹³⁸Your Testimonies that You have commanded are righteous and very faithful. (In fact, these are the only true Testimonies in the world, and actually ever have been.)

¹³⁹My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your Words. (Here the Messiah pours out His Grief because men forget Gods Word.)

¹⁴⁰Your Word is very pure: therefore Your servant loves it. (Only the Word of God is pure, with mans word never being pure.)

¹⁴¹I am small and despised: yet do not I forget Your Precepts. (The word small means insignificant.)

¹⁴²Your Righteousness is an everlasting Righteousness, and Your Law is the Truth. (The Righteousness of the Divine Essence and the Righteousness of His Testimonies are one and the same Righteousness. As a consequence, all the Statements and Doctrines of the Bible are free from error.)

¹⁴³Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet Your Commandments are my delights. (The sense of this Verse is: I have trouble and anguish, but they do not cause me to turn from You or Your Word.)

¹⁴⁴The Righteousness of Your Testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live. (The only Righteousness is found in the Word of God, which denies all man-made righteousness.)

KOPH, GODS WORD IS A SOURCE OF STRENGTH

¹⁴⁵I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep Your Statutes. (His cry to God to help Him in His fidelity to the Word ensured the keeping of that Word. The word cried refers to a heart-longing desire akin to physical hunger or thirst.)

¹⁴⁶I cried unto You; save me, and I shall keep Your Testimonies.

¹⁴⁷I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hope in Your Word.

¹⁴⁸My eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in Your Word. (These two Verses portray Christ studying the Word both morning and night.)

¹⁴⁹Hear my voice according unto Your lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to Your Judgment. (The Messiah desired that the Scriptures be the instrument and channel of refreshment and vivification to His Mind and Faith. He prayed to be kept within the banks of that channel.)

¹⁵⁰They draw near who follow after mischief: they are far from Your Law. (How strange it was that the Pharisees were so near Him, yet did not know Him, because they did not know Gods Word!)

¹⁵¹You are near, O LORD; and all Your Commandments are Truth. (This Passage tells us that God hovers near all fidelity to His Word.)

¹⁵²Concerning Your Testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them forever. (The last Verse in this chorus proclaims the Messiah testifying to the inspiration and antiquity of the Sacred Scriptures. He declares God to be their Author, and predicts that they will endure forever [Mat. 24:35].)

RESH, GODS WORD IS A SOURCE OF DELIVERANCE

¹⁵³Consider my affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget Your Law. (The word deliver, in the Hebrew, as used here, is halaz, and means to rescue with a gentle hand.)

¹⁵⁴Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to Your Word. (When suffering injustice, most men defend themselves, but the Messiah resigned Himself to God, pleading for His deliverance.)

¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not Your Statutes. (Deliverance was near to this dependent Man because He loved the Bible, but was far from the self-reliant because they despised it.)

¹⁵⁶Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to Your Judgments. (The name LORD refers to Covenant and promises such.)

¹⁵⁷Many are my persecutors and my enemies; yet do I not decline from Your Testimonies. (Their every effort was to push Him away from the Bible. Instead, it drew Him closer.)

¹⁵⁸I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not Your Word. (This Passage could be translated, I looked upon the traitors and loathed them because they kept not Your Word.)

¹⁵⁹Consider how I love Your Precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. (In contrast to the treachery of the Pharisees to that Holy Law, He could truthfully exclaim, Consider how I love it!)

¹⁶⁰Your Word is true from the beginning: and every one of Your righteous Judgments endures forever. (In this Verse, He repeats the testimony of Verse One Hundred Fifty-two, but especially urges the inerrancy of this Sacred Volume.)

SCHIN, GREAT PEACE HAVE THEY WHICH LOVE YOUR LAW

¹⁶¹Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart stands in awe of Your Word. (This Verse refers to the persecution of Christ by the rulers and leaders of Israel.)

¹⁶²I rejoice at Your Word, as one who finds great spoil. (The greatest treasure of all is found in Your Word, and will produce exhilarating rejoicing.)

¹⁶³I hate and abhor lying: but Your Law do I love. (The sense of this Verse is that the persecutors of Christ were liars, as are all those who vacillate from Gods Word.)

¹⁶⁴Seven times a day do I praise You because of Your righteous Judgments. (The word seven signifies completion, fulfillment, totality, and perfection. It means that the praise of the Messiah was perfect and unceasing.)

¹⁶⁵Great peace have they who love Your Law: and nothing shall offend them. (Great peace follows fidelity to and love of Your Law.)

¹⁶⁶LORD, I have hoped for Your Salvation, and done Your Commandments.

¹⁶⁷My soul has kept Your Testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.

¹⁶⁸I have kept Your Precepts and Your Testimonies: for all my ways are before You. (Only a perfect Believer could make the statements of these last three Verses. Such a Believer was Jesus of Nazareth.)

TAU, YOUR LAW IS MY DELIGHT

¹⁶⁹Let my cry come near before You, O LORD: give me understanding according to Your Word. (This is the Twenty-second and final Stanza. If possible, it increases in intensity the Messiahs extolling the Word of God. It opens with a cry for the understanding of the Bible.)

¹⁷⁰Let my supplication come before You: deliver me according to Your Word. (This word deliver, in the Hebrew, is nazal, which means to pluck out of the hands of the enemy; to recover.)

¹⁷¹My lips shall utter praise, when You have taught me Your Statutes. (The word utter means to bubble over with. The effect of Heavens legislation is to make Earthly lips overflow with praise.)

¹⁷²My tongue shall speak of Your Word: for all Your Commandments are righteousness. (In these last two Verses, we have praise and testimony. His utterance to God was praise. His utterance to man was testimony, or Your Word.)

¹⁷³Let Your hand help me; for I have chosen Your Precepts. (Neither the deliverance by mans hand nor the prosperity of his ways were desired by Christ, but Gods Salvation and His Word were.)

¹⁷⁴I have longed for Your Salvation, O LORD; and Your Law is my delight. (The word Salvation, hinged with Gods Covenant [O LORD], guarantee total deliverance, victory, development, and fulfillment.)

¹⁷⁵Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; and let Your Judgments help me. (We live not by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God [Mat. 4:4].)

¹⁷⁶I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant; for I do not forget Your Commandments. (To wander as a lost sheep here expresses defenselessness and loneliness, and not moral defection.)