Psalms 89:31

89:31 if they break ¹  my rules

and do not keep my commandments,

Psalms 119:6

119:6 Then I would not be ashamed,

if ²  I were focused on ³  all your commands.

Psalms 119:19

119:19 I am like a foreigner in this land. ⁴ 

Do not hide your commands from me!

Psalms 119:48

119:48 I will lift my hands to ⁵  your commands,

which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalms 119:66

119:66 Teach me proper discernment ⁶  and understanding!

For I consider your commands to be reliable. ⁷ 

Psalms 119:96

119:96 I realize that everything has its limits,

but your commands are beyond full comprehension. ⁸ 

Psalms 119:98

119:98 Your commandments ⁹  make me wiser than my enemies,

for I am always aware of them.

Psalms 119:172

119:172 May my tongue sing about your instructions, ¹⁰ 

for all your commands are just.

[89:31]  ¹ tn Or “desecrate.”

[119:6]  ² tn Or “when.”

[119:6]  ³ tn Heb “I gaze at.”

[119:19]  ³ tn Heb “I am a resident alien in the land.” Resident aliens were especially vulnerable and in need of help. They needed to know the social and legal customs of the land to avoid getting into trouble. The translation (note the addition of “like”) assumes the psalmist is speaking metaphorically, not literally.

[119:48]  ⁴ 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).

[119:66]  ⁵ tn Heb “goodness of taste.” Here “taste” refers to moral and ethical discernment.

[119:66]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I believe in your commands.”

[119:96]  ⁶ tn Heb “to every perfection I have seen an end, your command is very wide.” God’s law is beyond full comprehension, which is why the psalmist continually studies it (vv. 95, 97).

[119:98]  ⁷ tn The plural form needs to be revocalized as a singular in order to agree with the preceding singular verb and the singular pronoun in the next line. The Lord’s “command” refers here to the law (see Ps 19:8).

[119:172]  ⁸ tn Heb “your word.”