Psalms 119:156-176

156 Your acts of compassion are many in number, O LORD. Give me a new life guided by your regulations.

157 I have many persecutors and opponents, [yet] I have not turned away from your written instructions.

158 I have seen traitors, and I am filled with disgust. They have not accepted your promise.

159 See how I have loved your guiding principles! O LORD, in keeping with your mercy, give me a new life.

160 There is nothing but truth in your word, and all of your righteous regulations endure forever.

161 Influential people have persecuted me for no reason, but it is only your words that fill my heart with terror.

162 I find joy in your promise like someone who finds a priceless treasure.

163 I hate lying; I am disgusted with it. I love your teachings.

164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous regulations.

165 There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings. Nothing can make those people stumble.

166 I have waited with hope for you to save me, O LORD. I have carried out your commandments.

167 I have obeyed your written instructions. I have loved them very much.

168 I have followed your guiding principles and your written instructions, because my whole life is in front of you.

169 Let my cry for help come into your presence, O LORD. Help me understand as you promised.

170 Let my plea for mercy come into your presence. Rescue me as you promised.

171 Let my lips pour out praise because you teach me your laws.

172 Let my tongue sing about your promise because all your commandments are fair.

173 Let your hand help me because I have chosen [to follow] your guiding principles.

174 I have longed for you to save me, O LORD, and your teachings make me happy.

175 Let my soul have new life so that it can praise you. Let your regulations help me.

176 I have wandered away like a lost lamb. Search for me, because I have never forgotten your commandments.

Psalms 119:156-176 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\\.