Psalms 40:8

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, ¹  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” ² 

Psalms 112:1

Psalm 112 ³ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ⁴  who obeys ⁵  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ⁶ 

Psalms 119:11

119:11 In my heart I store up ⁷  your words, ⁸ 

so I might not sin against you.

Psalms 119:35

119:35 Guide me ⁹  in the path of your commands,

for I delight to walk in it. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 119:47-48

119:47 I will find delight in your commands,

which I love.

119:48 I will lift my hands to ¹¹  your commands,

which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalms 119:72

119:72 The law you have revealed is more important to me

than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. ¹² 

Psalms 119:92

119:92 If I had not found encouragement in your law, ¹³ 

I would have died in my sorrow. ¹⁴ 

Job 23:12

23:12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 15:16

15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, ¹⁶ 

and they filled my heart with joy and happiness

because I belong to you. ¹⁷ 

Romans 7:22

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

Romans 7:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ¹⁸  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ¹⁹  as long as he lives?

Romans 5:3

5:3 Not ²⁰  only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

[40:8]  ¹ tn Or “your will.”

[40:8]  ² tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

[112:1]  ³ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[112:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

[112:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “fears.”

[112:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

[119:11]  ⁷ tn Or “hide.”

[119:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “your word.” Some medieval Hebrew mss as well as the LXX read the plural, “your words.”

[119:35]  ⁹ tn Or “make me walk.”

[119:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for in it I delight.”

[119:48]  ¹¹ 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).

[119:72]  ¹² tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”

[119:92]  ¹³ tn Heb “if your law had not been my delight.”

[119:92]  ¹⁴ tn Or “my suffering.”

[23:12]  ¹⁵ tc The form in the MT (מֵחֻקִּי, mekhuqqi) means “more than my portion” or “more than my law.” An expanded meaning results in “more than my necessary food” (see Ps 119:11; cf. KJV, NASB, ESV). HALOT 346 s.v. חֹק 1 indicates that חֹק (khoq) has the meaning of “portion” and is here a reference to “what is appointed for me.” The LXX and the Latin versions, along with many commentators, have בְּחֵקִי (bÿkheqi, “in my bosom”).

[15:16]  ¹⁶ sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.

[15:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”

[7:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:1]  ¹⁹ sn Here person refers to a human being.

[5:3]  ²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.