¹ tn Heb “you, you commanded your precepts, to keep, very much.”

² tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

³ tn Heb “men of my counsel.” That is, God’s rules are like advisers to the psalmist, for they teach him how to live in a godly manner that refutes the accusations of his enemies.

⁴ tn Heb “my soul clings to the dirt.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

⁵ tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural “your words.”

⁶ tn Heb “for you make wide my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and understanding. The Lord gives the psalmist the desire and moral understanding that are foundational to the willing obedience depicted metaphorically in the preceding line. In Isa 60:5 the expression “your heart will be wide” means “your heart will swell with pride,” but here the nuance appears to be different.

⁷ tn Or “make me walk.”

⁸ tn Heb “for in it I delight.”

⁹ tn Heb “turn my heart to your rules.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and not unjust gain.”

¹¹ tn Heb “Make my eyes pass by from looking at what is worthless.”

¹² tn Heb “by your word.”

¹³ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

¹⁴ tn The psalmist has already declared that he observes God’s commands despite persecution, so here the idea must be “so that I might observe the commands of my God unhindered by threats.”

¹⁵ tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness of those who are blameless of way.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “walk in.”