Psalms 119:23

119:23 Though rulers plot and slander me, ¹ 

your servant meditates on your statutes.

Psalms 119:48

119:48 I will lift my hands to ²  your commands,

which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalms 119:78

119:78 May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! ³ 

But I meditate on your precepts.

Psalms 119:97

מ (Mem)

119:97 O how I love your law!

All day long I meditate on it.

Psalms 119:131

119:131 I open my mouth and pant,

because I long ⁴  for your commands.

Psalms 119:148

119:148 My eyes anticipate the nighttime hours,

so that I can meditate on your word.

Psalms 1:2

1:2 Instead ⁵  he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; ⁶ 

he meditates on ⁷  his commands ⁸  day and night.

James 1:25

1:25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, ⁹  and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he ¹⁰  will be blessed in what he does. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Heb “though rulers sit, about me they talk together.” (For another example of the Niphal of דָּבַר (davar) used with a suffixed form of the preposition ב, see Ezek 33:30.)

² tn Lifting the hands is often associated with prayer (Pss 28:2; 63:4; Lam 2:19). (1) Because praying to God’s law borders on the extreme, some prefer to emend the text to “I lift up my hands to you,” eliminating “your commands, which I love” as dittographic. In this view these words were accidentally repeated from the previous verse. (2) However, it is possible that the psalmist closely associates the law with God himself because he views the law as the expression of the divine will. (3) Another option is that “lifting the hands” does not refer to prayer here, but to the psalmist’s desire to receive and appropriate the law. (4) Still others understand this to be an action praising God’s commands (so NCV; cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

³ tn Heb “for [with] falsehood they have denied me justice.”

⁴ tn The verb occurs only here in the OT.

⁵ tn Here the Hebrew expression כִּי־אִם (ki-’im, “instead”) introduces a contrast between the sinful behavior depicted in v. 1 and the godly lifestyle described in v. 2.

⁶ tn Heb “his delight [is] in the law of the Lord.” In light of the following line, which focuses on studying the Lord’s law, one might translate, “he finds pleasure in studying the Lord’s commands.” However, even if one translates the line this way, it is important to recognize that mere study and intellectual awareness are not ultimately what bring divine favor. Study of the law is metonymic here for the correct attitudes and behavior that should result from an awareness of and commitment to God’s moral will; thus “obeying” has been used in the translation rather than “studying.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the characteristic behavior described here and lends support to the hyperbolic adverbial phrase “day and night.” The verb הָגָה (hagag) means “to recite quietly; to meditate” and refers metonymically to intense study and reflection.

⁸ tn Or “his law.”

⁹ tn Grk “continues.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “this one.”

¹¹ tn Grk “in his doing.”