You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,who wander from your commandments. Psalm 119:21 ESV The LORD rebukes the insolent, accursed ones. The fact that they are accursed implies that this rebuke is not merely corrective. God rebukes and disciplines His people as an earthly father does with his children. Yet His rebukes lead to life. They …
My soul is consumed with longingfor your rules at all times. Psalm 119:20 ESV Because each of Psalm 119's twenty-two stanzas contains eight verses, we conclude the first half of gimel with our meditation upon this verse. The relationship between the two lines of this verse is much more immediate than many of the ones …
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I am a sojourner on the earth;hide not your commandments from me! Psalm 119:19 ESV Having already referred to himself as God’s servant, the psalmist now calls himself a sojourner. In the ancient world, a sojourner was quite different from being a modern-day tourist. Today, we are able to go to the other side of …
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Open my eyes, that I may beholdwondrous things in your law. Psalm 119:18 ESV In this verse, we find the second of the psalmist’s prayer for direct intervention from the LORD of this stanza. After praying for God to deal bountifully with him, he now prays for God to open his eyes that he may …
Deal bountifully with your servant,that I may live and keep your word. Psalm 119:17 ESV With this verse, we begin Psalm 119’s third stanza, which is titled gimel because each verse begins that Hebrew letter. Like Beth (verses 9-16), Gimel (verses 17-24) continues the psalmist’s prayer for God’s instructing grace to guard him, while also …
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I will delight in your statutes;I will not forget your word. Psalm 119:16 ESV The psalmist concludes the second eight-verse stanza of Psalm 119 with this two-fold resolution, which he begins by reiterating the theme of verse 14. Just as the psalmist previously resolved to rejoice in God’s testimonies more highly than in all riches, …
I will meditate on your preceptsand fix my eyes on your ways. Psalm 119:15 ESV In the penultimate verse of this stanza, the psalmist continues to his resolutions for how he will store God’s Word in his heart and guard his way with it. Just as he has determined to declare and delight in the …
In the way of your testimonies I delightas much as in all riches. Psalm 119:14 ESV Continuing this stanza’s theme of how we are to guard our way with God’s Word that we may not wander from His commandments, the psalmist has declared his resolution to seek the LORD, to store up His Word within …
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With my lips I declareall the rules of your mouth. Psalm 119:13 ESV Moving into the second half of our present stanza, the psalmist continues the theme of obtaining purity through clinging to God’s Word, yet while verses 9-12 focused upon current resolve to seek the LORD through the Scriptures and upon the necessity of …
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Blessed are you, O LORD;teach me your statutes! Psalm 119:12 ESV As verse 11 paralleled with verse 9 by both expressing the necessity of God’s Word in order to fight against our sin, verse 12 also parallels verse 10 by crying out to God for His help. Thus, the first four verses of this stanza …
B. C. Newton 