Psalms 119:110-120

110 Sinners have put a net to take me; but I was true to your orders.

111 I have taken your unchanging word as an eternal heritage; for it is the joy of my heart.

112 My heart is ever ready to keep your rules, even to the end.

113 I am a hater of men of doubting mind; but I am a lover of your law.

114 You are my secret place and my breastplate against danger; my hope is in your word.

115 Go far from me, you evil-doers; so that I may keep the teachings of my God.

116 Be my support as you have said, and give me life; let not my hope be turned to shame.

117 Let me not be moved, and I will be safe, and ever take delight in your rules.

118 You have overcome all those who are wandering from your rules; for all their thoughts are false.

119 All the sinners of the earth are like waste metal in your eyes; and for this cause I give my love to your unchanging word.

120 My flesh is moved for fear of you; I give honour to your decisions.

Psalms 119:110-120 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\\.