Psalm 119:28

Verse 28. My soul melteth. The oldest versions make it mean to slumber (LXX enustaqen, Vulg. dormitavit), which would make the clause remarkably coincident with Luke 22:45 . Joseph Addison Alexander.

Verse 28. Heaviness. There is nothing may comfort a natural man but David had it; yet cannot all these keep him from that heaviness whereunto, as witnesseth S. Peter, the children of God are subject in this life, through their manifold temptations. The men of the world are so far from this disposition, that if they have health and wealth, they marvel what it is should make a man heavy: they are not acquainted with the exercise of a feeling conscience; they know not the defects of the spiritual life, and are not grieved at them: being dead in sin they feel not that they want life; all their care is to eat and drink and make merry. But miserable are they; for in their best estate they are as oxen fed for the slaughter. Woe be to them who laugh now, they shall mourn; but blessed are they who mourn now, for they shall be comforted. William Cowper.

Verse 28. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Strengthen me to do the duties, resist the temptations, and bear up under the burdens of an afflicted state, that the spirit may not fail. Matthew Henry.

Verse 28. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. What is that word which David pleaded? "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," Deuteronomy 33:25 . "Will he plead against me," said Job, "with his great power? No; but he will put strength in me," Job 23:6 . Charles Bridges.

Verse 28. Strengthen thou me. Gesenius translates this, "Keep me alive." Thus, ygmyq, in this verse, answers to ygyx, in the first verse. This prayer for new strength, or life, is an entreaty that the waste of life through tears might be restored by the life giving word. Frederick G. Marchant.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 28. -- Heaviness, its cause, curse, and cure.