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Psalm 119 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 119 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/119.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/119.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/119-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/118.htm" title="Psalm 118">◄</a> Psalm 119 <a href="../psalms/120.htm" title="Psalm 120">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld"> CXIX.</span><p>An acrostic must wear an artificial form, and one carried out on the elaborate plan set himself by this author could not fail to sacrifice logical sequence to the prescribed form. Why the number eight was selected for each group of verses, or why, when the author succeeded, in all but two of the 176 verses, in introducing some one synonym for the law, he failed in two, <a href="/psalms/119-122.htm" title="Be surety for your servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.">Psalm 119:122</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-132.htm" title="Look you on me, and be merciful to me, as you use to do to those that love your name.">Psalm 119:132</a>, we must leave to unguided conjecture. The repetition of the name Jehovah, occurring exactly twenty-two times, could hardly have been without intention, but in the change rung on the terms that denote the Law there is no evidence of design. That the aphorisms in which the praise of the Law is thus untiringly set forth were not collected and arranged as a mere mnemonic book of devotion appears from the under-current of feeling which runs through the psalm, binding the whole together. At the same time, it is quite inconsistent with the ordinary history of literary work to suppose that such a mechanical composition could owe its origin to the excitement of any one prominent occurrence; rather it is the after reflection of one, or more likely of many, minds on a long course of events belonging to the past, but preserved in memory, reflections arranged in such a way as not only to recall experiences of past days, but to supply religious support under similar trials. The same mode of viewing the psalm finds room for the apparent inconsistency which makes one author assign it to a young man (<a href="/psalms/119-9.htm" title="Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to your word.">Psalm 119:9</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/119-99.htm" title="I have more understanding than all my teachers: for your testimonies are my meditation.">Psalm 119:99-100</a>), another to a man of mature if not advanced age (<a href="/psalms/119-33.htm" title="Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I shall keep it to the end.">Psalm 119:33</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-52.htm" title="I remembered your judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.">Psalm 119:52</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-96.htm" title="I have seen an end of all perfection: but your commandment is exceeding broad.">Psalm 119:96</a>, &c). And if there is a monotony and sameness in the ever-recurring phrases, which under slightly different expressions state the same fact, the importance of that fact, not only to a Jew, but to a Christian also, cannot be exaggerated. “It is strange,” writes Mr. Ruskin, “that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me, that which cost me most to learn, and which was to my child’s mind chiefly repulsive, the 119th psalm, has now become of all most precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the law of God.”<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-1.htm">Psalm 119:1</a></div><div class="verse">ALEPH. Blessed <i>are</i> the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.</div>ALEPH.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">Undefiled.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">blameless </span>or <span class= "ital">perfect.</span><p><span class= "bld">Way.</span>—See the same use without a qualifying epithet in <a href="/psalms/2-12.htm" title="Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.">Psalm 2:12</a>. There was only-one way of safety and peace for an Israelite, here by the parallelism defined as “the law of Jehovah.” But even heathen ethics bore witness to the same truth: “Declinandum de <span class= "ital">viâ </span>sit modo ne summa turpitudo sequatur” (Cic, <span class= "ital">De Amicitia, </span>17).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-5.htm">Psalm 119:5</a></div><div class="verse">O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Directed . . .</span>—So LXX. and Vulg. The He brew is perhaps slightly different, <span class= "ital">established, </span>or settled. (See <a href="/proverbs/4-26.htm" title="Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.">Proverbs 4:26</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-6.htm">Psalm 119:6</a></div><div class="verse">Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Have respect unto.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">look upon, </span>or <span class= "ital">into, </span>as in a mirror. (Comp. <a href="/james/1-23.htm" title="For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a glass:">James 1:23</a>.) The Divine Law is as a mirror, which shows man his defects; the faithful, in looking in it, have no cause to blush.<p><span class= "bld">Judgments.</span>—Not here in common sense of visitations for sin, but only one of the change of synonyms for <span class= "ital">law. </span>(See this use in <a href="/exodus/21-1.htm" title="Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them.">Exodus 21:1</a>; <a href="/exodus/24-3.htm" title="And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD has said will we do.">Exodus 24:3</a>, &c.)<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-9.htm">Psalm 119:9</a></div><div class="verse">BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed <i>thereto</i> according to thy word.</div>BETH.</span><p>(9) <span class= "bld">Wherewithal.</span>—There can be little question that the right rendering of this verse is <span class= "ital">By what means can a young man purify his way, so as to keep it according to Thy word? </span>but from <a href="/joshua/6-18.htm" title="And you, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed, when you take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.">Joshua 6:18</a> we might render <span class= "ital">keep himself. </span>The English rendering, which follows the LXX. and Vulg. is, of course, possible, but the other is more natural and more in accordance with the general drift of the psalm. The answer is supposed, or rather left to be inferred, from the whole tenor of the psalm, which is that men, and especially-young men, whose passions and temptations are strong in proportion to their inexperience, can do nothing of themselves, but are dependent on the grace of God. The omission of a direct answer rather strengthens than impairs the impression on the reader.<p>We must not, from the mention of youth, conclude that this psalm was written in that period of life. Perhaps, on the contrary, it is one who, like Browning’s Rabbi ben Ezra, while seeking how best to spend old age, looks back on youth, not with remonstrance at its follies, but with the satisfaction that even then he aimed at the best he knew.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-10.htm">Psalm 119:10</a></div><div class="verse">With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">With my whole heart . . .</span>—The self-mistrust of the second clause is a proof of the reality of the first. “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief,” is another form of this.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-11.htm">Psalm 119:11</a></div><div class="verse">Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Thy word.</span>—A different term to that in <a href="/psalms/119-9.htm" title="Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to your word.">Psalm 119:9</a>. The two are interchanged throughout the psalm.<p><span class= "bld">Hid . . .</span>—As the Oriental hid treasures. (Comp <a href="/matthew/13-44.htm" title="Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to treasure hid in a field; the which when a man has found, he hides, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.">Matthew 13:44</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">In mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.</span>—The best comment on this is contained in our Lord’s words (<a href="/matthew/15-19.htm" title="For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:">Matthew 15:19</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-13.htm">Psalm 119:13</a></div><div class="verse">With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">With my lips.</span>—He has not kept his hidden treasure to himself, but, like the good householder of the Gospels, has brought out things new and old.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-17.htm">Psalm 119:17</a></div><div class="verse">GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant, <i>that</i> I may live, and keep thy word.</div>GIMEL.</span><p>(17) <span class= "bld">Deal bountifully . . . that I may live.</span>—Comp. <a href="/psalms/13-3.htm" title="Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;">Psalm 13:3</a>; <a href="/psalms/13-6.htm" title="I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.">Psalm 13:6</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/116-7.htm" title="Return to your rest, O my soul; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.">Psalm 116:7-8</a>, where we see, as here, the same connection between this Hebrew word and preservation from death. <span class= "ital">Life </span>is connected with obedience to the Divine law throughout the Bible (<a href="/leviticus/18-5.htm" title="You shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.">Leviticus 18:5</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/6-24.htm" title="And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.">Deuteronomy 6:24</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/41-1.htm" title="Blessed is he that considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.">Psalm 41:1-2</a>; <a href="/luke/10-28.htm" title="And he said to him, You have answered right: this do, and you shall live.">Luke 10:28</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-18.htm">Psalm 119:18</a></div><div class="verse">Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Open.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">uncover </span>(see margin), as if without Divine grace the eyes were veiled to the wonder and beauty of the moral law. (Comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/4-18.htm" title="While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.">2Corinthians 4:18</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-19.htm">Psalm 119:19</a></div><div class="verse">I <i>am</i> a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">I am a stranger.</span>—A comparison of <a href="/psalms/119-54.htm" title="Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.">Psalm 119:54</a> with <a href="/genesis/47-9.htm" title="And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.">Genesis 47:9</a> (comp. <a href="/psalms/39-12.htm" title="Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.">Psalm 39:12</a>) shows that the general transitory condition of life, and not any particular circumstance of the psalmist’s history is in view. Human intelligence does not suffice to fathom the will of God. The mortal is a stranger on the earth; both time and strength are wanting to attain to knowledge which only Divine wisdom can teach.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-20.htm">Psalm 119:20</a></div><div class="verse">My soul breaketh for the longing <i>that it hath</i> unto thy judgments at all times.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Breaketh.</span>—The Hebrew is peculiar to this place and <a href="/lamentations/3-16.htm" title="He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he has covered me with ashes.">Lamentations 3:16</a>. The LXX., Vulg., and Aquila have “greatly desired;” Symmachus, “was perfect;” Theodotion, “had confidence;” Jerome, “longed,” all which point either to a different reading or to a different sense from that which is given in the lexicons to the word.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-21.htm">Psalm 119:21</a></div><div class="verse">Thou hast rebuked the proud <i>that are</i> cursed, which do err from thy commandments.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">LXX.</span> and Vulg. divide the verse: “Thou hast rebuked the proud; cursed are they,” &c. This is preferable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-22.htm">Psalm 119:22</a></div><div class="verse">Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Remove.</span>—Some render “roll,” with allusion to <a href="/joshua/5-9.htm" title="And the LORD said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Why the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.">Joshua 5:9</a>. But it is more probably the same word as that rendered “open<span class= "ital">” </span>in <a href="/psalms/119-18.htm" title="Open you my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.">Psalm 119:18</a> (see Note) which may have for object the covering taken off (<a href="/isaiah/22-8.htm" title="And he discovered the covering of Judah, and you did look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest.">Isaiah 22:8</a>; <a href="/nahum/3-5.htm" title="Behold, I am against you, said the LORD of hosts; and I will discover your skirts on your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.">Nahum 3:5</a>), or of the thing from which the covering is taken, as in <a href="/psalms/119-18.htm" title="Open you my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.">Psalm 119:18</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-23.htm">Psalm 119:23</a></div><div class="verse">Princes also did sit <i>and</i> speak against me: <i>but</i> thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Speak.</span>—Comp. <a href="/psalms/50-20.htm" title="You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son.">Psalm 50:20</a> for the same implied sense in this verb. This verse reads as if Israel, and not a mere individual, were the subject of the psalms.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-24.htm">Psalm 119:24</a></div><div class="verse">Thy testimonies also <i>are</i> my delight <i>and</i> my counsellers.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">Counsellors.</span>—See margin. Instead of taking the princes of <a href="/psalms/119-23.htm" title="Princes also did sit and speak against me: but your servant did meditate in your statutes.">Psalm 119:23</a> into counsel. he takes God’s testimonies.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-25.htm">Psalm 119:25</a></div><div class="verse">DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.</div>DALETH.</span><p>(25) <span class= "bld">Cleaveth to the dust.</span>—The same figure is used in <a href="/psalms/22-29.htm" title="All they that be fat on earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.">Psalm 22:29</a>; <a href="/psalms/44-25.htm" title="For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly sticks to the earth.">Psalm 44:25</a>, in the former of death, in the latter of deep degradation and dishonour.<p>The prayer, “make me live,” suggests that the dust of death is here prominently in view, as in Tennyson’s “Thou wilt not leave us in the dust.” Else we might rather think of the dryness of summer dust as a type of despondency and spiritual depression.<p>“A wicked whisper came, and made<p>My heart as dry as dust.”—COLERIDGE.<p>It was this verse which the Emperor Theodosius recited when doing penance at the door of Milan Cathedral for the massacre of Thessalonica (Theodoret, v., 18).<p><span class= "bld">Quicken thou me according to thy word.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/119-88.htm" title="Quicken me after your loving kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of your mouth.">Psalm 119:88</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-107.htm" title="I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according to your word.">Psalm 119:107</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-145.htm" title="I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep your statutes.">Psalm 119:145</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-154.htm" title="Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to your word.">Psalm 119:154</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-156.htm" title="Great are your tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to your judgments.">Psalm 119:156</a>. This reiterated prayer, with its varied appeal to the Divine truth, lovingkindness, constancy, must certainly be regarded as the petition of Israel for revived covenant glory, though, at the same time, it offers a wide and rich field of application to individual needs.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-26.htm">Psalm 119:26</a></div><div class="verse">I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">I have declared.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">recounted.</span><p><span class= "bld">My ways.</span>—Or, as we should say, my <span class= "ital">courses, </span>my <span class= "ital">past life, </span>including, as the context shows, confession of sins and prayer for pardon.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-27.htm">Psalm 119:27</a></div><div class="verse">Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Make me to understand.</span>—Only the Israelite truly loyal to the covenant was considered worthy to enquire into the marvels of the dealings of God. (See <a href="/psalms/106-2.htm" title="Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can show forth all his praise?">Psalm 106:2</a>, Note.) Perhaps we might extend the thought so far as to say that a true historical insight is possible only to one whose moral sense is rightly trained and directed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-28.htm">Psalm 119:28</a></div><div class="verse">My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Melteth</span>—The Hebrew word is used in <a href="/ecclesiastes/10-18.htm" title="By much slothfulness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the house drops through.">Ecclesiastes 10:18</a> of a dripping roof of a house; in <a href="/job/16-20.htm" title="My friends scorn me: but my eye pours out tears to God.">Job 16:20</a> of weeping. The LXX. and Vulg. have “slumbered,” which suits far better with the next clause, which is literally, <span class= "ital">make me rise up. </span>Symmachus has “distils.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-29.htm">Psalm 119:29</a></div><div class="verse">Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Way of lying.</span>—Not of falsehood to men so much as insincerity and unfaithfulness towards God, the opposite of the truth and faithfulness of <a href="/psalms/119-30.htm" title="I have chosen the way of truth: your judgments have I laid before me.">Psalm 119:30</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Grant me.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">be gracious to me according to thy law. </span>This is the persistent cry of the psalm.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-32.htm">Psalm 119:32</a></div><div class="verse">I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">Run the way.</span>—Plainly the psalmist means that he will not only be able to walk in the Divine way, but even to run in it when certain restraints are removed which now confine and check him. Hence we may understand, by the <span class= "ital">enlargement of the heart, </span>not so much the expansion of the faculties as deliverance from oppressing fears, &c, as <a href="/psalms/4-1.htm" title="Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.">Psalm 4:1</a>; <a href="/psalms/18-36.htm" title="You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.">Psalm 18:36</a>, and render “when thou hast set my heart at large.” So the Prayer Book Version, “set my heart at liberty.”<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-33.htm">Psalm 119:33</a></div><div class="verse">HE. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it <i>unto</i> the end.</div>HE.</span><p>(33) <span class= "bld">To</span> <span class= "bld">the end.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/119-112.htm" title="I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes always, even to the end.">Psalm 119:112</a>. This word, used adverbially, is peculiar to this psalm.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-35.htm">Psalm 119:35</a></div><div class="verse">Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">Path.</span>—From root to <span class= "ital">tread, the trodden way, </span>plain with the track of all the pious pilgrims’ feet of past times.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-36.htm">Psalm 119:36</a></div><div class="verse">Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.</div>(36) <span class= "bld">Covetousness.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">rapine, prey. </span>In <a href="/psalms/30-9.htm" title="What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? shall it declare your truth?">Psalm 30:9</a> simply, “gain.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-37.htm">Psalm 119:37</a></div><div class="verse">Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; <i>and</i> quicken thou me in thy way.</div>(37) <span class= "bld">From beholding vanity.</span>—Perhaps <span class= "ital">from looking on idols.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-38.htm">Psalm 119:38</a></div><div class="verse">Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who <i>is devoted</i> to thy fear.</div>(38) <span class= "bld">Who is devoted to thy fear.</span>—This is an improbable explanation of this elliptical expression. There are two renderings, each in accordance with the general drift of the psalm: (1) <span class= "ital">Stablish to Thy servant Thy word, which leads to fear of Thee; </span>or, more likely, (2) <span class= "ital">Stablish to Thy servant Thy promise which is to those who fear Thee, </span>as apparently the LXX.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-39.htm">Psalm 119:39</a></div><div class="verse">Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments <i>are</i> good.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">My reproach which I fear.</span>—The word for fear is an unusual one, used in <a href="/deuteronomy/9-19.htm" title="For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also.">Deuteronomy 9:19</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/28-60.htm" title="Moreover he will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall stick to you.">Deuteronomy 28:60</a>, for very strong dread. The reproach may be either the disgrace in God’s sight of violating His commands, or, as the context (<a href="/psalms/119-42.htm" title="So shall I have with which to answer him that reproaches me: for I trust in your word.">Psalm 119:42</a>) suggests, a reproach from men for keeping God’s law.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-40.htm">Psalm 119:40</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.</div>(40) <span class= "bld">Quicken me in thy righteousness</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, Let the sense of thy eternal justice give me vigour and life. Or the thought may be of the invigorating influence of a complete surrender to a righteous law, as in Wordsworth’s <span class= "ital">Ode to Duty;</span>—<p>“I myself commend<p>Unto thy guidance from this hour.<p>Oh let my weakness have an end!<p>Give unto me, made lowly, wise,<p>The spirit of self-sacrifice.<p>The confidence of reason give,<p>And in the light of truth thy bondsman let me live.”<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-42.htm">Psalm 119:42</a></div><div class="verse">So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.</div>VAU.</span><p>(42) <span class= "bld">So shall I have.</span>—Better literally, as the LXX. and Vulg., <span class= "ital">and I shall answer my reviler a word, for I trust in Thy word, i.e., </span>when reproached it will be enough to pronounce God’s promise. The repetition of <span class= "ital">davar </span>here and in <a href="/psalms/119-43.htm" title="And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in your judgments.">Psalm 119:43</a> makes for this explanation in preference to that of the margin.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-45.htm">Psalm 119:45</a></div><div class="verse">And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.</div>(45) <span class= "bld">At liberty.</span>—See margin. Literally, in <span class= "ital">a large place. </span>(See <a href="/psalms/119-32.htm" title="I will run the way of your commandments, when you shall enlarge my heart.">Psalm 119:32</a>; comp. <a href="/proverbs/4-12.htm" title="When you go, your steps shall not be straitened; and when you run, you shall not stumble.">Proverbs 4:12</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-46.htm">Psalm 119:46</a></div><div class="verse">I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.</div>(46) The Vulgate (which in the tenses follows the LXX.) of this verse was the motto of the Augsburg Confession, <span class= "ital">Et loquebar in testimoniis tuis in conspectu regum, et non confundebar.”</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-48.htm">Psalm 119:48</a></div><div class="verse">My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.</div>(48) <span class= "bld">My</span> <span class= "bld">hands.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/28-2.htm" title="Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle.">Psalm 28:2</a>. The expression here is elliptical: “I will lift my hands in prayer for power to observe Thy commands.”<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-50.htm">Psalm 119:50</a></div><div class="verse">This <i>is</i> my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.</div>ZAIN.</span><p>(50) <span class= "bld">Comfort.</span>—As in <a href="/job/6-10.htm" title="Then should I yet have comfort; yes, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.">Job 6:10</a>, where the same noun occurs, its only other use. We might render, “This is my comfort, that thy word quickeneth me.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-53.htm">Psalm 119:53</a></div><div class="verse">Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.</div>(53) <span class= "bld">Horror.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">violent indignation, </span>a storm of rage, hot and fierce as the simoon. For the word, see <a href="/psalms/11-6.htm" title="On the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.">Psalm 11:6</a>, Note.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-54.htm">Psalm 119:54</a></div><div class="verse">Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.</div>(54) <span class= "bld">Songs.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">Thy statutes were my music in the house of my sojournings. </span>Possibly with reference to the exile (comp. <a href="/psalms/137-4.htm" title="How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?">Psalm 137:4</a>), but with comparison with <a href="/psalms/119-9.htm" title="Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to your word.">Psalm 119:9</a> (see Note), more probably the reference is to the transitoriness of human life. In connection with the next verse comp. <a href="/job/35-10.htm" title="But none said, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night;">Job 35:10</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-56.htm">Psalm 119:56</a></div><div class="verse">This I had, because I kept thy precepts.</div>(56) <span class= "bld">This I had, because . . .</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">This was to me,</span> &c, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>this consoling recollection of the mercies of God, of His covenant grace, was to him, happened, or came to him, in consequence of his habitual obedience. Virtue is indeed then most its own reward, in times of quiet reflection, like the night, when to the guilty come remorse and apprehension, but to the good man “calm thoughts regular as infant’s breath.”<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-57.htm">Psalm 119:57</a></div><div class="verse">CHETH. <i>Thou art</i> my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.</div>CHETH.</span><p>(57) <span class= "bld">Thou art my portion, O Lord.</span>—This rendering is in accordance with <a href="/psalms/16-5.htm" title="The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: you maintain my lot.">Psalm 16:5</a>; <a href="/psalms/73-26.htm" title="My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.">Psalm 73:26</a>. But, even with these passages in view, a better rendering would be—<p>“This is my portion, O Lord, I said (it),<p>To keep Thy words.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-58.htm">Psalm 119:58</a></div><div class="verse">I intreated thy favour with <i>my</i> whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.</div>(58) <span class= "bld">I intreated.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/45-12.htm" title="And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat your favor.">Psalm 45:12</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-59.htm">Psalm 119:59</a></div><div class="verse">I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.</div>(59) <span class= "bld">I thought on.</span>—The Hebrew implies repeated and frequent meditation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-61.htm">Psalm 119:61</a></div><div class="verse">The bands of the wicked have robbed me: <i>but</i> I have not forgotten thy law.</div>(61) <span class= "bld">The bands . . .</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">cords of the wicked surrounded me. </span>(See <a href="/context/psalms/18-5.htm" title="The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.">Psalm 18:5-6</a>.) So all ancient versions except the Targum.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-62.htm">Psalm 119:62</a></div><div class="verse">At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.</div>(62) <span class= "bld">Midnight.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/119-55.htm" title="I have remembered your name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept your law.">Psalm 119:55</a>.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-66.htm">Psalm 119:66</a></div><div class="verse">Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.</div>TETH.</span><p>(66) <span class= "bld">Good judgment.</span>—More exactly, <span class= "ital">good taste. </span>Here, however, in a moral, not æsthetic sense. Perhaps <span class= "ital">tact </span>or <span class= "ital">delicate moral perception </span>represents it. We may compare St. Paul’s use of the Greek words, <span class= "greekheb">ε</span>̓<span class= "greekheb">πιγνω</span>́<span class= "greekheb">σις</span> and <span class= "greekheb">αι</span>̓<span class= "greekheb">σθη</span>́<span class= "greekheb">σις</span> in <a href="/philippians/1-9.htm" title="And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;">Philippians 1:9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-67.htm">Psalm 119:67</a></div><div class="verse">Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.</div>(67) That there is allusion here to the Babylonian exile, and its moral and religious effect on the nation, there can be little doubt.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-68.htm">Psalm 119:68</a></div><div class="verse">Thou <i>art</i> good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.</div>(68) It is characteristic of this psalm that the higher the conception of the Divine nature, the more earnest becomes the prayer for knowledge of His will in relation to conduct.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-69.htm">Psalm 119:69</a></div><div class="verse">The proud have forged a lie against me: <i>but</i> I will keep thy precepts with <i>my</i> whole heart.</div>(69) <span class= "bld">Have forged.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">patched. </span>The verb occurs twice besides (<a href="/job/13-4.htm" title="But you are forgers of lies, you are all physicians of no value.">Job 13:4</a>; <a href="/job/14-17.htm" title="My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you sew up my iniquity.">Job 14:17</a>). Gesenius compares the Greek, <span class= "greekheb">δόλον ἐάπτειν</span><span class= "ital">,</span> and the Latin, <span class= "ital">suere dolos. </span>Comp. also<p>“You praise yourself by laying defects of judgment to me;<p>but you patched up your excuses.”<p><span class= "ital">Antony and Cleopatra: </span>Acts 2, Scene 2.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-70.htm">Psalm 119:70</a></div><div class="verse">Their heart is as fat as grease; <i>but</i> I delight in thy law.</div>(70) <span class= "bld">As</span> <span class= "bld">fat as grease.</span>—For this emblem of pride and insensibility, see <a href="/psalms/17-10.htm" title="They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.">Psalm 17:10</a>; <a href="/psalms/73-7.htm" title="Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.">Psalm 73:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/6-10.htm" title="Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.">Isaiah 6:10</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-71.htm">Psalm 119:71</a></div><div class="verse"><i>It is</i> good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.</div>(71) <span class= "bld">It is good . . .</span>—See <a href="/psalms/119-67.htm" title="Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept your word.">Psalm 119:67</a>. Probably the result of discipline on the nation is intended, though the “sweet uses of adversity” were long ago a truism of moralists. See Æsch., <span class= "ital">Agam., </span>172:<p>“Who guideth mortals to wisdom, maketh them grasp lore<p>Firmly through their pain.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-72.htm">Psalm 119:72</a></div><div class="verse">The law of thy mouth <i>is</i> better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.</div>(72) <span class= "bld">Better unto me</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, better for me.<p><span class= "bld">Thousands of.</span>—We must supply <span class= "ital">shekels </span>or <span class= "ital">pieces.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-73.htm">Psalm 119:73</a></div><div class="verse">JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.</div>JOD.</span><p>(73) <span class= "bld">Fashioned.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">fixed, established.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-74.htm">Psalm 119:74</a></div><div class="verse">They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.</div>(74) <span class= "bld">They . . . will be glad.</span>—The great truth of spiritual communion, and the mutual help and consolation derived from it, is latent here. In its primary sense, that the preservation and deliverance of the righteous, who are victims of persecution, afford comfort and joy to all truly good, the verse has been amply confirmed by history. <a href="/matthew/5-16.htm" title="Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.">Matthew 5:16</a>, “Let your light so shine,” &c<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-75.htm">Psalm 119:75</a></div><div class="verse">I know, O LORD, that thy judgments <i>are</i> right, and <i>that</i> thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.</div>(75) See <a href="/context/psalms/119-67.htm" title="Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept your word.">Psalm 119:67-71</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-78.htm">Psalm 119:78</a></div><div class="verse">Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: <i>but</i> I will meditate in thy precepts.</div>(78) <span class= "bld">Dealt.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">wronged me; </span>literally, <span class= "ital">bent me.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-81.htm">Psalm 119:81</a></div><div class="verse">CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: <i>but</i> I hope in thy word.</div>CAPH.</span><p>(81) <span class= "bld">Fainteth.</span>—The same Hebrew word as <span class= "ital">fail</span> in the next verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-82.htm">Psalm 119:82</a></div><div class="verse">Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?</div>(82) <span class= "bld">Mine eyes fail.</span>—The <span class= "ital">failing </span>of the eyes is here evidently to be understood of the effort of straining to catch or keep sight of a distant object, not, as so frequently in the Psalms (see <a href="/psalms/6-7.htm" title="My eye is consumed because of grief; it waxes old because of all my enemies.">Psalm 6:7</a>, &c), from sickness or even grief. Comp.<p>“I would have broke my eye-strings, cracked them, but<p>To look upon him.”—SHAKESPEARE: <span class= "ital">Cymbeline.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-83.htm">Psalm 119:83</a></div><div class="verse">For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; <i>yet</i> do I not forget thy statutes.</div>(83) <span class= "bld">A bottle in the smoke.</span>—The insertion of <span class= "ital">yet </span>by our translators shows that they understood this as a figure of abject misery. The wine-skin would, of course, shrivel, if hung above a fire, and would afford an apt image of the effect of trouble on an individual or community. “As wine-skin in the smoke my heart is sere and dried.” Some think that as a bottle hung up anywhere in an ancient house would be in the smoke, nothing more is implied than its being set aside; but this is too weak.<p>We find in the ancient poets allusion to the custom of mellowing wine by heat:<p>“Prodit fumoso condita vina cado.”—OVID: <span class= "ital">Fast. v.</span> 517.<p>(Comp. Hor. <span class= "ital">Ode </span>iii. 8, 9, 10). And so some understand the image here of the good results of the discipline of suffering. The LXX. and Vulg., instead of <span class= "ital">smoke, </span>have “hoar-frost.” The Hebrew word has this meaning in <a href="/psalms/148-8.htm" title="Fire, and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word:">Psalm 148:8</a>, but in the only other place where it occurs (<a href="/genesis/19-28.htm" title="And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, see, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.">Genesis 19:28</a>) it is <span class= "ital">smoke. </span>The possibility of rendering <span class= "ital">hoar-frost </span>here suggests another explanation. The word <span class= "ital">nôd </span>(bottle) may be used of a <span class= "ital">cloud, </span>and as the psalmist has just spoken of his eyes failing, we may have here only another expression for weeping.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-84.htm">Psalm 119:84</a></div><div class="verse">How many <i>are</i> the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?</div>(84) As in <a href="/context/psalms/89-47.htm" title="Remember how short my time is: why have you made all men in vain?">Psalm 89:47-48</a>, the psalmist here utters what was the dread of each generation of Israel, a dread lest it should have passed away before the day of deliverance should arrive.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-85.htm">Psalm 119:85</a></div><div class="verse">The proud have digged pits for me, which <i>are</i> not after thy law.</div>(85) <span class= "bld">Which.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">who. </span>Its antecedent, of course, the <span class= "ital">proud, </span>not the <span class= "ital">pits.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-87.htm">Psalm 119:87</a></div><div class="verse">They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.</div>(87) <span class= "bld">Upon earth.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">on the land. </span>(Comp. <a href="/psalms/58-2.htm" title="Yes, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.">Psalm 58:2</a>.)<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-89.htm">Psalm 119:89</a></div><div class="verse">LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.</div>LAMED.</span><p>(89, 90) See <a href="/psalms/89-2.htm" title="For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: your faithfulness shall you establish in the very heavens.">Psalm 89:2</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-91.htm">Psalm 119:91</a></div><div class="verse">They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all <i>are</i> thy servants.</div>(91) <span class= "bld">They </span>(the heavens and the earth) <span class= "bld">continue to this day according to Thine ordinances: for all </span>(<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>all creation) <span class= "bld">are Thy servants.</span>—In Hebrew <span class= "ital">the all, i.e., </span>the universe. The parallelism is in this way preserved, while in the alternative, “as for Thy judgments, Thy,” &c., it is lost.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-96.htm">Psalm 119:96</a></div><div class="verse">I have seen an end of all perfection: <i>but</i> thy commandment <i>is</i> exceeding broad.</div>(96) <span class= "bld">I have seen.</span>—The exact thought of the psalmist here is doubtful, and it offers such a wide application, embracing so many truths of experience, that possibly he had more than one meaning in his mind. Keeping as close to the context as possible, the meaning will be: “To all perfection (or apparent perfection) a limit is visible, but the Divine Law is boundless alike in its scope and its requirements.” This, translated into the language of modern ideas, merely says that the actual can never correspond with the ideal:<p>“Who keeps a spirit wholly true<p>To that ideal which he bears<span class= "ital">?”</span><p>But in the word <span class= "ital">end </span>in Hebrew, as in English, there is a limitation in time, as in space (see <a href="/job/26-10.htm" title="He has compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.">Job 26:10</a>; <a href="/job/28-3.htm" title="He sets an end to darkness, and searches out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.">Job 28:3</a>; comp. Symmachus, “I have seen the end of all settled things”), and the Prayer Book version may really give the psalmist’s thought as indicating the difference between mere change and progress.<p>“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,<p>And God fulfils Himself in many ways,<p>Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”<p>TENNYSON: <span class= "ital">Morte d’Arthur.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-98.htm">Psalm 119:98</a></div><div class="verse">Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they <i>are</i> ever with me.</div>MEM.</span><p>(98) Better, <span class= "ital">Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies. </span>The same correspondence of wisdom with loyal obedience to the Law is found in the Book of Proverbs.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-99.htm">Psalm 119:99</a></div><div class="verse">I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies <i>are</i> my meditation.</div>(99) <span class= "bld">More understanding . . .</span>—The Rabbinical writers disliked the idea of a scholar professing wisdom above his teachers, and rendered, “from all my teachers I got wisdom,” which was certainly far more in keeping with the process by which the Talmud grew into existence.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-100.htm">Psalm 119:100</a></div><div class="verse">I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.</div>(100) <span class= "bld">Ancients.</span>—Or, more probably, as the LXX. and Vulg., and the old versions generally took it, <span class= "ital">old men.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-105.htm">Psalm 119:105</a></div><div class="verse">NUN. Thy word <i>is</i> a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.</div>NUN.</span><p>(105) See <a href="/proverbs/6-23.htm" title="For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:">Proverbs 6:23</a>.<p>So Wordsworth calls Duty:<p>“A light to guide.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-106.htm">Psalm 119:106</a></div><div class="verse">I have sworn, and I will perform <i>it</i>, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.</div>(106) <span class= "bld">Perform.</span>—The same verb as in <a href="/psalms/119-28.htm" title="My soul melts for heaviness: strengthen you me according to your word.">Psalm 119:28</a>—<span class= "ital">strengthen</span>; often used in Esther for <span class= "ital">confirm.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-108.htm">Psalm 119:108</a></div><div class="verse">Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.</div>(108) <span class= "bld">Freewill offerings of my mouth</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>thanks and praise.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-109.htm">Psalm 119:109</a></div><div class="verse">My soul <i>is</i> continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.</div>(109) <span class= "bld">My soul.</span>—For this figure of peril see <a href="/judges/12-3.htm" title="And when I saw that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: why then are you come up to me this day, to fight against me?">Judges 12:3</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/19-5.htm" title="For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel: you saw it, and did rejoice: why then will you sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?">1Samuel 19:5</a>, &c.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-113.htm">Psalm 119:113</a></div><div class="verse">SAMECH. I hate <i>vain</i> thoughts: but thy law do I love.</div>SAMECH.</span><p>(113) <span class= "bld">I hate vain thoughts.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">I hate men who halt between two opinions, </span>following <a href="/1_kings/18-21.htm" title="And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.">1Kings 18:21</a>, where the cognate noun from the same root, <span class= "ital">to divide, </span>appears. Probably we are to think of those among the Jews who were for political reasons favourably inclined towards foreign customs and ideas, and who would not throw in their lot frankly and courageously with the national party.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-114.htm">Psalm 119:114</a></div><div class="verse">Thou <i>art</i> my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.</div>(114) <span class= "bld">My shield.</span>—For this expression see <a href="/psalms/3-3.htm" title="But you, O LORD, are a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head.">Psalm 3:3</a>; <a href="/psalms/7-10.htm" title="My defense is of God, which saves the upright in heart.">Psalm 7:10</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-115.htm">Psalm 119:115</a></div><div class="verse">Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.</div>(115) <span class= "bld">For.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">and. </span>The presence of the wicked was a hindrance to religion. It is Israel trying to purify itself from the leaven of evil influence that speaks. The first clause is from <a href="/psalms/6-8.htm" title="Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.">Psalm 6:8</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-118.htm">Psalm 119:118</a></div><div class="verse">Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit <i>is</i> falsehood.</div>(118) <span class= "bld">Trodden down.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">thou despisest. </span>So LXX. and Vulg. Aquila, “Thou hast impaled.” Symmachus, “Thou hast convicted.” Literally the word seems to mean to <span class= "ital">weigh </span>or <span class= "ital">value, </span>but, from the habit of the buyer beating down the price by depreciating, comes to have a sense of this kind. Mr. Burgess aptly quotes <a href="/proverbs/20-14.htm" title="It is naught, it is naught, said the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.">Proverbs 20:14</a>. We may compare the English word <span class= "ital">cheapen, </span>which originally only meant to <span class= "ital">buy.</span><p><span class= "bld">For their deceit is falsehood.</span>—Rather, as the parallelism indicates, <span class= "ital">for their tricks are in vain; </span>or perhaps, to bring out the full intention of the Hebrew, we must paraphrase: “for their wiles are as fruitless as they are deceitful.” So Symmachus: “all their craft is vain.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-119.htm">Psalm 119:119</a></div><div class="verse">Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth <i>like</i> dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.</div>(119) <span class= "bld">Thou puttest away.</span>—For this common Scriptural figure comp. <a href="/context/jeremiah/6-28.htm" title="They are all grievous rebels, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.">Jeremiah 6:28-30</a>; <a href="/context/ezekiel/22-18.htm" title="Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the middle of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.">Ezekiel 22:18-20</a>. This is indeed a process which is continually going on, and it is one test of the true religious character that it can discern it at work under the seeming contradictions of the world. Where apparently vice succeeds and prospers it is really marked out for expulsion,<p>“To those who<p>All treasures and all gain esteem as dross;<p>And dignities and powers, all but the Highest.”<p>MILTON.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-120.htm">Psalm 119:120</a></div><div class="verse">My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.</div>(120) <span class= "bld">Trembleth.</span>—The original is far stronger. Better, as in <a href="/job/4-15.htm" title="Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:">Job 4:15</a>, <span class= "ital">the hair of my flesh stands up. </span>So Symmachus.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-122.htm">Psalm 119:122</a></div><div class="verse">Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.</div>AIN.</span><p>(122) <span class= "bld">Be surety.</span>—Just as Judah became surety for the safety of Benjamin (<a href="/genesis/43-9.htm" title="I will be surety for him; of my hand shall you require him: if I bring him not to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame for ever:">Genesis 43:9</a>), so the psalmist asks God to be answerable for the servant who had been faithful to the covenant, and stand between him and the attacks of the proud. So Hezekiah (<a href="/isaiah/38-14.htm" title="Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: my eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.">Isaiah 38:14</a>) asks God to “undertake” for him against the threat of death. There is also, no doubt, the further thought that the Divine protection would vindicate the profession which the loyal servant makes of his obedience, as in <a href="/job/17-3.htm" title="Lay down now, put me in a surety with you; who is he that will strike hands with me?">Job 17:3</a>, where God is summoned as the only possible guarantee of the sufferer’s innocence. This and <a href="/psalms/119-132.htm" title="Look you on me, and be merciful to me, as you use to do to those that love your name.">Psalm 119:132</a> are the only verses not actually mentioning, under one of its terms, the Law.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-123.htm">Psalm 119:123</a></div><div class="verse">Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.</div>(123) See <a href="/psalms/119-82.htm" title="My eyes fail for your word, saying, When will you comfort me?">Psalm 119:82</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-126.htm">Psalm 119:126</a></div><div class="verse"><i>It is</i> time for <i>thee</i>, LORD, to work: <i>for</i> they have made void thy law.</div>(126) <span class= "bld">They have</span> <span class= "bld">made void thy law.</span>—Some treat the verse as parenthetical, but is it not that the irreligion of the wicked makes the Law even more dear to the psalmist? What they reject is to him priceless,<p>“Faithful found;<p>Among the faithless, faithful only he.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-128.htm">Psalm 119:128</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore I esteem all <i>thy</i> precepts <i>concerning</i> all <i>things to be</i> right; <i>and</i> I hate every false way.</div>(128) <span class= "bld">Therefore I esteem.</span>—As the text stands, this verse literally runs, <span class= "ital">Therefore all precepts of all I make straight. Every path of falsehood I hate. </span>The LXX. and Vulg. have, “Therefore to all Thy commandments I was being directed. Every unjust path I hated,” which only necessitates a slight change in the reading of one word. It is true that the expression, <span class= "ital">all precepts of all, </span>may be explained as a strengthened form of <span class= "ital">all precepts</span>—as we say, “all and every”—though the passages (<a href="/ezekiel/44-30.htm" title="And the first of all the first fruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in your house.">Ezekiel 44:30</a>; <a href="/numbers/8-16.htm" title="For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them to me.">Numbers 8:16</a>) generally adduced are not strictly analogous. But the Lexicons supply no authority for taking the verb <span class= "ital">yāshar </span>in the sense of “esteem right,” and the figure of the path in the next clause seems here plainly to fix its meaning. Translate, therefore, <span class= "ital">Therefore after all Thy precepts I direct </span>(<span class= "ital">my way</span>)<span class= "ital">. Every false way I detest.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-130.htm">Psalm 119:130</a></div><div class="verse">The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.</div>PE.</span><p>(130) <span class= "bld">Entrance.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">opening, </span>which the LXX. and Vulg. better represent by “manifestation,” “declaration.” (Comp. “opening and alleging,” <a href="/acts/17-3.htm" title="Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is Christ.">Acts 17:3</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-131.htm">Psalm 119:131</a></div><div class="verse">I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.</div>(131) Comp. <a href="/job/29-23.htm" title="And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.">Job 29:23</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-132.htm">Psalm 119:132</a></div><div class="verse">Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.</div>(132) <span class= "bld">As . . .</span> <span class= "bld">name.</span>—See margin. But the absence of the suffix is against this correction, as it is against the Authorised Version itself. Rather, <span class= "ital">according to the right of. </span>It was not only theirs by custom, but by right of the covenant.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-133.htm">Psalm 119:133</a></div><div class="verse">Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.</div>(133) <span class= "bld">Have dominion.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">get the mastery. </span>The Arabic root cognate with the Hebrew of the word appears in the title <span class= "ital">sultan.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-137.htm">Psalm 119:137</a></div><div class="verse">TZADDI. Righteous <i>art</i> thou, O LORD, and upright <i>are</i> thy judgments.</div>TZADDI.</span><p>(137) <span class= "bld">And upright.</span>—For an interesting historical association with this verse see Gibbon’s account of the death of the Emperor Maurice (chap 46).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-138.htm">Psalm 119:138</a></div><div class="verse">Thy testimonies <i>that</i> thou hast commanded <i>are</i> righteous and very faithful.</div>(138) <span class= "bld">Thy testimonies.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Thou hast commanded Thy testimonies in righteousness and very faithfulness. </span>But unquestionably another arrangement of the text of these two verses is correct. It takes the verb <span class= "ital">commandest </span>with <a href="/psalms/119-137.htm" title="Righteous are you, O LORD, and upright are your judgments.">Psalm 119:137</a>, and gets the simple and obvious “righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright in the judgments which Thou hast commanded. Thy testimonies are righteous, and faithful to the uttermost” (Burgess). (See <a href="/psalms/7-6.htm" title="Arise, O LORD, in your anger, lift up yourself because of the rage of my enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that you have commanded.">Psalm 7:6</a> and <a href="/psalms/119-144.htm" title="The righteousness of your testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.">Psalm 119:144</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-140.htm">Psalm 119:140</a></div><div class="verse">Thy word <i>is</i> very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.</div>(140) <span class= "bld">Pure.</span>—More literally, <span class= "ital">purged by trial. </span>LXX. and Vulg., “fired.” It is not only the excellence, but the <span class= "ital">proved </span>excellence, of the Divine Word, which is the object of love and adoration here.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-141.htm">Psalm 119:141</a></div><div class="verse">I <i>am</i> small and despised: <i>yet</i> do not I forget thy precepts.</div>(141) These words are hardly applicable to an individual, while to the struggling Israel, in relation to the great Eastern Powers, they are peculiarly suitable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-142.htm">Psalm 119:142</a></div><div class="verse">Thy righteousness <i>is</i> an everlasting righteousness, and thy law <i>is</i> the truth.</div>(142) <span class= "bld">Thy . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Thy righteousness is right for ever, and Thy law is truth.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-147.htm">Psalm 119:147</a></div><div class="verse">I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.</div>KOPH.</span><p>(147) <span class= "bld">Prevented.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/18-5.htm" title="The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.">Psalm 18:5</a>; <a href="/psalms/79-8.htm" title="O remember not against us former iniquities: let your tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.">Psalm 79:8</a>. The Authorised Version gives the sense, <span class= "ital">I was up before the morning.</span><p><span class= "bld">Dawning of the morning.</span>—The Hebrew word means literally “breath,” and is used of the fresh breeze that blows both at sunset (<a href="/job/24-15.htm" title="The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguises his face.">Job 24:15</a>; <a href="/proverbs/7-9.htm" title="In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:">Proverbs 7:9</a>) and sunrise (<a href="/job/7-4.htm" title="When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro to the dawning of the day.">Job 7:4</a>). Generally in our version rendered “twilight.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-149.htm">Psalm 119:149</a></div><div class="verse">Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.</div>(149) <span class= "bld">According to Thy judgment.</span>—See Note, <a href="/psalms/119-132.htm" title="Look you on me, and be merciful to me, as you use to do to those that love your name.">Psalm 119:132</a>. We must certainly here give the Hebrew noun the meaning of a “custom,” which it bears there. (Comp. Prayer Book version, “according as Thou art wont.”)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-150.htm">Psalm 119:150</a></div><div class="verse">They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.</div>(150, 151) <span class= "bld">Near.</span>—Notice the antithesis. <span class= "ital">They, the wicked, </span>are <span class= "ital">near </span>with their temptation to sin and their hindrances to virtue. <span class= "ital">Thou </span>art near with the aid and support of Thy law.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-152.htm">Psalm 119:152</a></div><div class="verse">Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.</div>(152) The more obvious rendering of this verse is, <span class= "ital">Of old I was instructed out of Thy testimonies, for</span>—<span class= "ital">not for a brief time, but for ever</span>—<span class= "ital">Thou didst found them, </span>where <span class= "ital">for ever </span>expresses indefinite past as well as indefinite future.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-158.htm">Psalm 119:158</a></div><div class="verse">I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.</div>RESH.</span><p>(158) <span class= "bld">Transgressors.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">the faithless </span>(or, <span class= "ital">traitors</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">Was grieved.</span>—The Hebrew is a far stronger word, and the sense is intensified by the rare conjugation: <span class= "ital">was filled with loathing at; sickened with disgust.</span><p>“The recreants I survey,<p>And loathing turn away.”—KEBLE.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-160.htm">Psalm 119:160</a></div><div class="verse">Thy word <i>is</i> true <i>from</i> the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments <i>endureth</i> for ever.</div>(160) <span class= "bld">Beginning.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">head; </span>but here, as in <a href="/psalms/139-17.htm" title="How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them!">Psalm 139:17</a>, it might be rendered <span class= "ital">sum. </span>(Comp. <a href="/proverbs/1-7.htm" title="The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.">Proverbs 1:7</a>.) The translation <span class= "ital">“from </span>the beginning,” of the Authorised Version must at all events be abandoned.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-161.htm">Psalm 119:161</a></div><div class="verse">SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.</div>SCHIN.</span><p>(161) <span class= "bld">Princes.</span>—Here again we have an indication of the national character of the psalm. It was the whole community which suffered from the intrigues and violence of princes.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-162.htm">Psalm 119:162</a></div><div class="verse">I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.</div>(162) Comp. <a href="/isaiah/9-3.htm" title="You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.">Isaiah 9:3</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-164.htm">Psalm 119:164</a></div><div class="verse">Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.</div>(164) <span class= "bld">Seven times.</span>—Some commentators think the number is used here only in a general way for “often,” “repeatedly;” but the number seven evidently had some sacred association for the Hebrews. (Comp. <a href="/leviticus/26-18.htm" title="And if you will not yet for all this listen to me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.">Leviticus 26:18</a>; <a href="/proverbs/24-16.htm" title="For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.">Proverbs 24:16</a>; <a href="/matthew/18-21.htm" title="Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?">Matthew 18:21</a>, &c) No doubt the seven canonical hours were partly derived from this verse. Elsewhere we find three times as the stated occasions of prayer (<a href="/psalms/55-17.htm" title="Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.">Psalm 55:17</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-165.htm">Psalm 119:165</a></div><div class="verse">Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.</div>(165) <span class= "bld">Nothing shall offend them.</span>—See margin. Perhaps the verse should take the form of a wish: <span class= "ital">great peace to the lovers of Thy law; no stumbling-block to them. </span>Or, it may be, <span class= "ital">great peace have they who love Thy word and who find no hindrance. </span>It was not the fact that the faithful did <span class= "ital">not </span>stumble.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-171.htm">Psalm 119:171</a></div><div class="verse">My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.</div>TAU.</span><p>(171) <span class= "bld">Shall utter.</span>—Better, preserving the metaphor of the Hebrew, <span class= "ital">pour forth a stream of praise.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-172.htm">Psalm 119:172</a></div><div class="verse">My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments <i>are</i> righteousness.</div>(172) <span class= "bld">My tongue shall speak of Thy word.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">My tongue shall make response to Thy word, that all Thy commandments are true.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/119-176.htm">Psalm 119:176</a></div><div class="verse">I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.</div>(176) <span class= "bld">I have gone astray like a lost sheep.</span>—It would be in accordance with a true religious character that even at the end of a long protestation of obedience to the Divine law the psalmist should confess his weakness and sin. But while this may be a legitimate application of the close of this remarkable composition, and while the LXX. suggest a comparison with our Lord’s parable by their rendering (comp. <a href="/matthew/18-11.htm" title="For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.">Matthew 18:11</a>; <a href="/luke/19-10.htm" title="For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.">Luke 19:10</a>), this could hardly have been the intention of the words of this verse. More likely there is a reference to the condition of the community, for the word rendered “lost” (literally, <span class= "ital">perishing</span>) is used in <a href="/isaiah/27-13.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.">Isaiah 27:13</a> of the exiled Hebrews, and is rendered “outcasts;” the emphatic “I do not forget Thy commandments,” which is the real close of the psalm, seems to make this view imperative.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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