Psalms 119 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Most likely after the return from Babylonian exile, roughly the fifth to third century BC, when written scripture was becoming central to Jewish life
Location
Judah under Persian rule, in a community where teachers and scribes shaped daily practice
Audience
Devout Jews, especially the young and those learning to live by written instruction
Situation
The longest chapter in the Bible, 176 verses in praise of God's instruction. The writer, mocked by the powerful and hunted by opponents, keeps returning to the law as delight, counsel, freedom and the thing that keeps him alive.
Key Background
The poem is an elaborate acrostic in twenty-two sections of eight verses each, with every line in a section beginning with the same Hebrew letter, working through the alphabet in order. Eight different words for God's instruction, including law, decrees, precepts, statutes, commands, ordinances, word and promise, are cycled through so that nearly every verse contains one, and the Hebrew word torah means teaching or direction rather than legal code. The intense personal attachment to a text rather than a temple ritual reflects a period when many Jews lived far from Jerusalem, and scripture read and memorized had become the portable center of the faith.
is for those whose path is — who walk in step with the of Yahweh.
Life is good for those who hold tight to his who look for him with in them.
They do nothing — they walk in his ways.
You yourself laid down your to be kept with
If only my ways were steady enough to keep your
Then I would never be to because I could look straight at all your
I will praise you with a heart that's been as I learn your just
I will keep your boundaries — please don't completely abandon me.
How does someone young keep their path clean? By guarding it the way your describes.
With everything in me I've looked for you — don't let me wander from your commands.
I've up what you've said deep inside me so I won't you.
You are Yahweh — teach me your boundaries.
With my own lips I've recounted every just decision you've spoken.
I find more joy in the way your declarations lead me than in any amount of wealth.
I will your guidelines and keep my eyes fixed on your paths.
Your boundaries are my — I will not forget what you've said.
Be good to the one who serves you, and I will live — I will keep what you've said.
Open my eyes so I can see the hidden in your instruction.
I am just this earth — don't hide your commands from me.
My whole being with longing for your just decisions at every moment.
You confront the — they are the ones who stray from your commands.
Roll away the and scorn from me — I have held tight to your declarations.
Even when sit together and plot against me, the one who serves you thinks deeply about your boundaries.
Your declarations are my delight — they are the I to.
I'm in the — bring me to the way you promised.
I laid my ways out before you and you answered me — teach me your boundaries.
Help me understand the way your guidelines work, and I will think deeply about your
My whole being from grief — lift me up the way you promised.
Keep me far from any path of — and be to me with your instruction.
I've chosen the way of — I've set your just decisions right in front of me.
I've held tight to your declarations, Yahweh — don't let me be humiliated.
I will run the path of your commands because you have my
Teach me the way your boundaries work, Yahweh, and I will follow it all the way to the end.
Give me and I will guard your instruction — I will keep it with everything in me.
Lead me down the of your commands — that's where I find my joy.
Turn my heart toward your declarations and away from
Turn my eyes away from — bring me back to life on your path.
Make good on what you promised to the one who serves you — the promise that leads to you.
Take away the disgrace that I dread — your just decisions are good.
Look — I long for your guidelines! Bring me back to life through your
Let your reach me, Yahweh — your just as you promised.
Then I'll have an answer for anyone who mocks me, because I in what you've said.
Don't ever take the word of completely out of my mouth — I've put my in your just decisions.
I will keep your instruction always — forever and beyond.
I will walk in because I have searched out your guidelines.
I will speak about your declarations in front of kings and I won't be ashamed.
I find my delight in your commands — I love them deeply.
I reach out my hands toward your commands that I love, and I think deeply about your boundaries.
Remember what you said to the one who serves you — the promise you gave me to hold onto.
This is what keeps me going when I suffer: your promise me.