Psalms 119:113-120

Samekh.

113 I hate those who are ¹double-minded, But I love Your ²law.

114 You are my ³hiding place and my ⁴shield; I ⁵wait for Your word.

115 ⁶Depart from me, evildoers, That I may ⁷observe the commandments of my God.

116 ⁸Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And ⁹do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

117 Uphold me that I may be ¹⁰safe, That I may ¹¹have regard for Your statutes continually.

118 You have rejected all those ¹²who wander from Your statutes, For their deceitfulness is useless.

119 You have removed all the wicked of the earth like ¹³dross; Therefore I ¹⁴love Your testimonies.

120 My flesh ¹⁵trembles for fear of You, And I am ¹⁶afraid of Your judgments. Ayin.

Psalms 119:113-120 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 119

This psalm is generally thought to be written by David, but when is uncertain; very probably towards the decline of life; and, as some think, for the sake or his son Solomon. It seems to be a collection of observations on the word of God and its precepts, the usefulness and excellency of it, he had made in the course of his life; interspersed with various petitions for the grace of God, to enable him to observe it. The psalm is a very extraordinary one; partly on account of the unusual length of it, it being more than double the length of the longest psalm in the whole book; and partly on account of its curious composition. It consists of twenty two parts, according to the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; the names of which letters stand between each part; and every part consists of eight verses, all of which begin with the same letter: thus, for instance, the first eight verses begin with the letter a, "aleph", and the second eight verses begin with the letter b, "beth", and so on throughout; hence the Masorah calls this psalm the Great Alphabet. This the psalmist did, perhaps to excite attention to what he said, and also to help the memory. And it is observable that there are very few verses in the whole, not more than one or two, but what has something in it concerning the word of God, and its precepts and ordinances; there are nine or ten different words used relative to it, which signify much one and the same thing; as laws, statutes, judgments, testimonies Luther {m} observes, that neither Cicero, nor Virgil, nor Demosthenes, are to be compared with David for eloquence, as we see in the hundred nineteenth Psalm, where he divideth one sense and meaning into twenty two sorts. And it may also be remarked, that there is nothing in it concerning the tabernacle worship, or the rites and ceremonies of the legal dispensation; so that it seems to be calculated for, and is suited to, the word of God, and the ordinances of it, as we now have them in their full perfection: and the design of the whole is to show the fervent affection the psalmist had for the word of God, and to stir up the same in others.

{m} Mensal. Colloqu. c. 32. p. 365.

a, \\ALEPH.--The First Part\\.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 18:21; James 1:8; James 4:8
• 2. Psalms 119:47
• 3. Psalms 31:20; Psalms 32:7; Psalms 61:4; Psalms 91:1
• 4. Psalms 84:9
• 5. Psalms 119:74
• 6. Psalms 6:8; Psalms 139:19; Matthew 7:23
• 7. Psalms 119:22
• 8. Psalms 37:17, 24; Psalms 54:4
• 9. Psalms 25:2, 20; Psalms 31:1, 17; Romans 5:5; Romans 9:33; Philippians 1:20
• 10. Psalms 12:5; Proverbs 29:25
• 11. Psalms 119:6, 15
• 12. Psalms 119:10, 21
• 13. Isaiah 1:22, 25; Ezekiel 22:18, 19
• 14. Psalms 119:47
• 15. Job 4:14; Habakkuk 3:16
• 16. Psalms 119:161

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "hope in"
• [b]. Or "promise"
• [c]. Lit "put to shame because of"
• [d]. Lit "made light of"
• [e]. Lit "falsehood"
• [f]. Lit "caused to cease"
• [g]. Lit "bristles up from"