Psalm 119:33–56

tn Heb “the way of your statutes.”

tn Heb “and I will keep it to the end.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative. The Hebrew term עֵקֶב (’eqev) is understood to mean “end” here. Another option is to take עֵקֶב (’eqev) as meaning “reward” here (see Ps 19:11) and to translate, “so that I might observe it and be rewarded.”

tn The two prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the introductory imperative.

tn Or “make me walk.”

tn Heb “for in it I delight.”

tn Heb “turn my heart to your rules.”

tn Heb “and not unjust gain.”

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

tn Heb “by your word.”

tn Heb “word.”

tn Heb “which [is] for your fear,” that is, the promise made to those who exhibit fear of God.

tn Heb “my reproach that I fear.”

tn Or “for.”

tn Or “righteousness.”

tn Heb “and may your loyal love come to me.”

tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions).

tn Heb “according to your word.”

tn Heb “and I will answer [the] one who insults me a word.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive (see v. 41).

tn Heb “do not snatch from my mouth a word of truth to excess.” The psalmist wants to be able to give a reliable testimony about the Lord’s loyal love (vv. 41–42), but if God does not intervene, the psalmist will be deprived of doing so, for the evidence of such love (i.e., deliverance) will be lacking.

tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the negated jussive (see v. 43).

tn Or “forever and ever.”

tn Heb “and I will walk about in a wide place.” The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive gives a further consequence of the anticipated positive divine response (see vv. 43–44). Another option is to take the cohortative as expressing the psalmist’s request. In this case one could translate, “and please give me security.”

tn The series of four cohortatives with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive in vv. 46–48 list further consequences of the anticipated positive divine response to the request made in v. 43.

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).

tn The demonstrative “this” refers back to the hope just mentioned or forward to the statement in the second line concerning the promise’s power to revive. See the note on the word “me” at the end of the verse for further discussion.

tn The hope generated by the promise (see v. 49b) brings comfort because (note “for” at the beginning of the line) the promise revives the psalmist’s spirits. Another option is to take כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the second line in the sense of “that,” in which case “this” refers to the promise’s power to revive.

tn Heb “scoff at me to excess.”

tn Heb “I remember your regulations from of old.” The prepositional phrase “from of old” apparently modifies “your regulations,” alluding to the fact that God revealed them to Israel in the distant past. Another option is to understand the prepositional phrase as modifying the verb, in which case one might translate, “I have long remembered your regulations.”

tn Or “find comfort.”

tn Heb “songs were your statutes to me.”

tn Heb “in the house of my dwelling place.” Some take the Hebrew noun מָגוֹר (magor) in the sense of “temporary abode,” and see this as a reference to the psalmist’s status as a resident alien (see v. 19). But the noun can refer to a dwelling place in general (see Ps 55:15).

tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve to obey the law.

tn Heb “this has been to me.” The demonstrative “this” (1) refers back to the practices mentioned in vv. 54–55, or (2) looks forward to the statement in the second line, in which case the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the second line should be translated “that.”