119:72 The law you have revealed is more important to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. 1
119:96 I realize that everything has its limits,
but your commands are beyond full comprehension. 2
מ (Mem)
119:97 O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
119:98 Your commandments 3 make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
119:99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
119:100 I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
נ (Nun)
119:105 Your word 4 is a lamp to walk by,
and a light to illumine my path. 5
119:127 For this reason 6 I love your commands
more than gold, even purest gold.
119:128 For this reason I carefully follow all your precepts. 7
I hate all deceitful actions. 8
1 tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”
2 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).
3 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
4 tn Many medieval Hebrew
5 tn Heb “[is] a lamp for my foot and a light for my path.”
6 tn “For this reason” connects logically with the statement made in v. 126. Because the judgment the psalmist fears (see vv. 119-120) is imminent, he remains loyal to God’s law.
7 tn Heb “for this reason all the precepts of everything I regard as right.” The phrase “precepts of everything” is odd. It is preferable to take the kaf (כ) on כֹּל (kol, “everything) with the preceding form as a pronominal suffix, “your precepts,” and the lamed (ל) with the following verb as an emphatic particle. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 138.
8 tn Heb “every false path.”