119:7 I will give you sincere thanks, 1
when I learn your just regulations.
119:39 Take away the insults that I dread! 2
Indeed, 3 your regulations are good.
119:62 In the middle of the night I arise 4 to thank you
for your just regulations.
119:75 I know, Lord, that your regulations 5 are just.
You disciplined me because of your faithful devotion to me. 6
119:106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn
to keep your just regulations.
צ (Tsade)
119:137 You are just, O Lord,
and your judgments are fair.
119:138 The rules you impose are just, 7
and absolutely reliable.
119:142 Your justice endures, 8
and your law is reliable. 9
א (Alef)
119:1 How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, 11
who obey 12 the law of the Lord.
1 tn Heb “I will give you thanks with an upright heart.”
2 tn Heb “my reproach that I fear.”
3 tn Or “for.”
4 tn The psalmist uses an imperfect verbal form to emphasize that this is his continuing practice.
5 tn In this context (note the second line) the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim), which so often refers to the regulations of God’s law elsewhere in this psalm, may refer instead to his decisions or disciplinary judgment.
6 tn Heb “and [in] faithfulness you afflicted me.”
7 tn Heb “you commanded [in] justice your rules.”
8 tn Heb “your justice [is] justice forever.”
9 tn Or “truth.”
10 sn Psalm 119. The psalmist celebrates God’s law and the guidance it provides his people. He expresses his desire to know God’s law thoroughly so that he might experience the blessings that come to those who obey it. This lengthy psalm exhibits an elaborate acrostic pattern. The psalm is divided into twenty-two sections (corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each of which is comprised of eight verses. Each of the verses in the first section (vv. 1-8) begins with the letter alef (א), the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This pattern continues throughout the psalm as each new section highlights a successive letter of the alphabet. Each verse in section two (vv. 9-16) begins with the second letter of the alphabet, each verse in section three (vv. 17-24) with the third letter, etc. This rigid pattern creates a sense of order and completeness and may have facilitated memorization.
11 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness of those who are blameless of way.”
12 tn Heb “walk in.”