Zaburi 119

Your word, my delight and my life

¹How blessed are those whose way of life is without fault, who walk by the instruction of the LORD! ²How blessed are those who hold fast to his decrees and seek him with their whole heart. ³They do nothing crooked; they keep to the ways he has shown. ⁴You have laid down your precepts to be kept with all care. ⁵If only my life were set firmly on keeping your statutes! ⁶Then I will not be put to shame, as I keep my eyes on all your commands. ⁷With an honest heart I will give you thanks, as I come to learn your righteous rulings. ⁸I will hold to your statutes; do not leave me wholly alone. ⁹How can the young keep their way of life clean? By taking care to live as your word directs. ¹⁰I have searched for you with all my heart; do not let me drift away from your commands. ¹¹Deep in my heart I have kept your word safe, so that I will not sin against you. ¹²All praise to you, LORD! Teach me your statutes. ¹³Aloud I tell over every ruling you have spoken. ¹⁴Following your decrees gives me as much joy as all the riches in the world. ¹⁵I will think deeply about your precepts and keep my eyes on your ways. ¹⁶Your statutes are my joy; I will not let your word slip from my mind. ¹⁷Treat your servant with kindness, and I will live and hold to your word. ¹⁸Take the veil from my eyes, so that I may see the wonders in your instruction. ¹⁹I am only a foreigner living on the earth; do not keep your commands hidden from me. ²⁰I am worn thin by longing for your rulings, every hour. ²¹You rebuke the proud, the people under a curse who wander away from your commands. ²²Lift insult and contempt off me, for I have held to your decrees. ²³Even when men in power sit and talk against me, your servant keeps thinking about your statutes. ²⁴Yes, I delight in your decrees; they are the advisers I listen to. ²⁵I lie pressed down in the dust; give me life, as your word has said. ²⁶I laid my life out before you, and you gave me an answer; teach me your statutes. ²⁷Help me grasp the path your precepts mark out, and I will ponder your wonderful deeds. ²⁸I am melting away in sorrow; lift me up as your word has said. ²⁹Keep me far from every false path, and be gracious to me by giving me your instruction. ³⁰The path of faithfulness is the one I have chosen; I have set your rulings in front of me. ³¹I have held tight to your decrees, LORD; let me not be disgraced. ³²I will run along the path of your commands, for you open my heart wide. ³³Show me, LORD, the path of your statutes, and I will hold to it to the very end. ³⁴Make me understand, and I will guard your instruction and keep it wholeheartedly. ³⁵Guide me along the track of your commands, for that is where my delight is. ³⁶Bend my heart toward your decrees, not toward greedy profit. ³⁷Turn my eyes from gazing at empty things; keep me alive as I walk in your ways. ³⁸Make good your promise to your servant, so that you will be feared. ³⁹Turn aside the scorn I fear so much, for your rulings are good. ⁴⁰See how I long for your precepts! Keep me alive in your righteousness. ⁴¹Let your loyal love reach me, LORD, and your rescue, as your promise assured me. ⁴²Then I will have a reply for the one who mocks me, because I rely on your word. ⁴³Do not take the word of truth wholly from my mouth, for I have waited in hope for your rulings. ⁴⁴I will keep your instruction always, for all time to come. ⁴⁵I will walk where there is room and freedom, because I have searched for your precepts. ⁴⁶I will talk about your decrees in front of kings and not be put to shame. ⁴⁷I will find my joy in your commands, because I love them. ⁴⁸I will raise my hands toward your commands, which I love, and I will ponder your statutes. ⁴⁹Keep in mind the word you gave your servant; you have made me hope in it. ⁵⁰Here is my comfort when I am brought low: your promise has kept me alive. ⁵¹The proud have heaped scorn on me without limit, yet I have not swerved from your instruction. ⁵²I call to mind your rulings from long ago, LORD, and I find comfort. ⁵³Because of the wicked, who have abandoned your instruction, a hot anger takes hold of me. ⁵⁴Your statutes have become my songs in every place where I live as a foreigner. ⁵⁵Through the night I think of your name, LORD, and I hold to your instruction. ⁵⁶This has been my part in life: I have held to your precepts. ⁵⁷The LORD is my share in life; I have said that I will hold to your words. ⁵⁸With my whole heart I have pleaded for your favor; show me kindness, just as your promise said. ⁵⁹I have thought hard about how I live, and turned my steps back to your decrees. ⁶⁰Quickly, without waiting, I set myself to keep your commands. ⁶¹The wicked have tangled me in their ropes, but I have not forgotten your instruction. ⁶²In the middle of the night I get up to thank you for your righteous rulings. ⁶³I stand with all who fear you, with everyone who holds to your precepts. ⁶⁴LORD, your loyal love fills all the earth; teach me your statutes. ⁶⁵LORD, you have treated your servant well, just as your word said. ⁶⁶Train me in good sense and knowledge, for I rely on your commands. ⁶⁷Until I was brought low, I kept wandering off; but now I hold to your word. ⁶⁸You are good, and you bring about good; teach me your statutes. ⁶⁹The proud have plastered lies all over me, but with my whole heart I hold to your precepts. ⁷⁰Their hearts are thick and dull as fat, but I delight in your instruction. ⁷¹It did me good to be brought low, so that I would learn your statutes. ⁷²The instruction you have spoken is worth more to me than gold and silver by the thousand. ⁷³Your hands made me and shaped me; give me insight, so that I can learn your commands. ⁷⁴Those who fear you will be glad when they see me, for I have set my hope on your word. ⁷⁵I know, LORD, that your rulings are just, and that you brought me low because you are faithful. ⁷⁶Let your loyal love comfort me, I pray, as your promise to your servant said. ⁷⁷Send your tender mercy to me so that I may live; your instruction is what I delight in. ⁷⁸Let the proud be disgraced, for they have twisted the truth to harm me; but I will ponder your precepts. ⁷⁹Let those who fear you come back to me, those who know your decrees. ⁸⁰Let my heart be whole in keeping your statutes, so that I will not be disgraced. ⁸¹I am worn out with longing for your rescue; I have set my hope on your word. ⁸²My eyes grow dim as I watch for your promise; I keep asking when you will comfort me. ⁸³I am like a skin bottle dried and cracked in the smoke, yet your statutes have not slipped my mind. ⁸⁴How many days does your servant have left? When will you judge those who hunt me down? ⁸⁵The proud have dug pits to catch me, people who do not live by your instruction. ⁸⁶All your commands can be trusted; people hunt me down with lies. Help me! ⁸⁷They came close to finishing me off in the land, yet I have not let go of your precepts. ⁸⁸Keep me alive in your loyal love, and I will hold to the decree you have spoken. ⁸⁹LORD, your word lasts forever; it is fixed in place in the heavens. ⁹⁰Your faithfulness lasts from one generation to the next; you set the earth in its place, and it remains. ⁹¹They stand today by your rulings, since all things are your servants. ⁹²Had I not taken delight in your instruction, I would have died in my trouble. ⁹³Never will I forget your precepts, for you have used them to give me life. ⁹⁴I belong to you; save me, for I have searched out your precepts. ⁹⁵The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I keep my mind on your decrees. ⁹⁶I have seen that every perfect thing has its limit, but your command reaches wide beyond measure. ⁹⁷How I love your instruction! I turn it over in my mind all day long. ⁹⁸Through your commands I grow wiser than my enemies, since they are mine forever. ⁹⁹I see more deeply than all my teachers, because your decrees fill my thoughts. ¹⁰⁰I understand more than the old, because I have kept your precepts. ¹⁰¹I have held my feet back from every wicked road, so that I may keep your word. ¹⁰²I have not strayed from your rulings, for you yourself have been my teacher. ¹⁰³How sweet your words taste to me, sweeter than honey on my tongue! ¹⁰⁴Through your precepts I gain understanding, so I hate every road built on lies. ¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for the road I travel. ¹⁰⁶I have sworn an oath and I stand by it: I will keep your righteous rulings. ¹⁰⁷I am bowed down with trouble; LORD, give me life as your word has said. ¹⁰⁸LORD, please accept the praise I freely offer, and teach me your rulings. ¹⁰⁹Every day my life hangs in the balance, yet I do not forget your instruction. ¹¹⁰The wicked spread a trap to catch me, yet I have not wandered from your precepts. ¹¹¹I have received your decrees as my portion for all time; they make my heart glad. ¹¹²I have turned my heart to carry out your statutes for all time, to the very end. ¹¹³I hate people whose loyalty is divided, but I love your instruction. ¹¹⁴In you I find my hiding place and my shield; my hope is fixed on your word. ¹¹⁵Get away from me, you evildoers! I mean to keep the commands my God has given. ¹¹⁶Hold me up as you have promised, so that I may live; do not let my hope end in shame. ¹¹⁷Hold me fast, and I will be safe; I will keep my eyes on your statutes always. ¹¹⁸You throw aside all who wander from your statutes, for their cunning is an empty lie. ¹¹⁹All the wicked of the earth you throw away like dross; that is why I love your decrees. ¹²⁰My skin crawls with dread of you, and your rulings fill me with fear. ¹²¹I have done what is fair and just; do not give me up to those who oppress me. ¹²²Pledge yourself for your servant’s good; do not let the proud crush me. ¹²³My eyes grow weary as I watch for your salvation and for the righteous promise you made. ¹²⁴Treat your servant as your loyal love moves you, and teach me your statutes. ¹²⁵I am your servant; make me understand, so that I come to know your decrees. ¹²⁶The time has come for the LORD to act, for people have broken your instruction.^{a 127}So I love your commands above gold, above the finest gold. ¹²⁸So I hold all your precepts to be right in everything; I hate every road built on lies.^{b 129}Your decrees are full of wonder; that is why I keep them with all my being. ¹³⁰When your words are opened up, they shed light; they bring understanding to the naive. ¹³¹I gasp for breath with my mouth wide open, so deeply do I long for your commands. ¹³²Turn toward me and be gracious, as is your way with those who love your name. ¹³³Keep my steps steady by your word, and let no evil be master over me. ¹³⁴Set me free when people oppress me, and I will keep your precepts. ¹³⁵Turn the light of your face toward your servant, and train me in your statutes. ¹³⁶My eyes pour out streams of water, because people do not keep your instruction. ¹³⁷LORD, you are just in all you do, and your rulings are straight and true. ¹³⁸You have laid down your decrees in righteousness and in complete faithfulness. ¹³⁹My zeal burns me up, for my enemies have forgotten your words. ¹⁴⁰Your word has been tried in the fire and found pure, and your servant loves it. ¹⁴¹I am of no account and scorned, yet I have not forgotten your precepts. ¹⁴²Your righteousness stays right for all time, and your instruction is the truth. ¹⁴³Trouble and hardship have overtaken me, yet your commands are my joy. ¹⁴⁴Your decrees are right for all time; help me understand, so that I may live. ¹⁴⁵With my whole heart I call to you; LORD, answer me! I will keep your statutes. ¹⁴⁶I cry to you: save me, and I will hold to your decrees. ¹⁴⁷Before the light of dawn I am up, crying out for help; my hope is in your word. ¹⁴⁸My eyes are open before each watch of the night, so that I may ponder your promise. ¹⁴⁹Hear my voice because of your loyal love; LORD, give me life in keeping with your justice. ¹⁵⁰Those who chase after wicked schemes are closing in; your instruction is far from their minds. ¹⁵¹But you, LORD, are close at hand, and every one of your commands is truth. ¹⁵²From your decrees I have known for a long time that you laid their foundations to last forever. ¹⁵³Look at my suffering and pull me out of it, for I have not forgotten your instruction. ¹⁵⁴Take up my cause and set me free; give me life as you have promised. ¹⁵⁵The wicked are a long way from being saved, since they never look for your statutes. ¹⁵⁶Great is your compassion, LORD; give me life as your rulings direct. ¹⁵⁷Many people hunt me and stand against me, yet I have not swerved from your decrees. ¹⁵⁸When I see traitors I feel sick, for they have not kept your word. ¹⁵⁹Look how much I love your precepts! LORD, give me life because of your loyal love. ¹⁶⁰Your word is truth from first to last; each of your righteous rulings stands forever. ¹⁶¹Rulers hunt me down for no reason, but it is your word that makes my heart tremble. ¹⁶²Your promise makes me glad, as glad as one who carries off rich plunder. ¹⁶³I hate lies, I detest them, but I love your instruction. ¹⁶⁴I praise you seven times every day because your rulings are righteous. ¹⁶⁵Those who love your instruction enjoy deep peace, and nothing trips them up. ¹⁶⁶LORD, I look in hope for your salvation, and I carry out your commands. ¹⁶⁷With all my being I keep your decrees, and I love them deeply. ¹⁶⁸I keep your precepts and your decrees, for everything I do lies open before you. ¹⁶⁹LORD, let my cry come close to you; give me understanding as your word has said. ¹⁷⁰Let my prayer for mercy reach you; rescue me as you have promised. ¹⁷¹Let praise bubble up from my lips, for you teach me your statutes. ¹⁷²Let my tongue answer with songs about your word, since every command you give is right. ¹⁷³Reach out your hand to help me, since your precepts are what I have chosen. ¹⁷⁴LORD, I yearn for you to save me, and your instruction is my joy. ¹⁷⁵Keep me alive to praise you, and let your rulings come to my aid. ¹⁷⁶Like a lost sheep I have wandered off; search for your servant, since your commands have not slipped from my mind.