Psalms 119:18

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Open	גַּל gal-	H1540	to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense) · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
eyes	עֵינַ֥י 'ei.Nai	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix
behold	וְאַבִּ֑יטָה ve.'a.Bi.tah	H5027	to scan · conjunction + verb, hiphil infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
things	נִ֝פְלָא֗וֹת nif.la.'ot	H6381	properly · verb, niphal active participle, feminine plural absolute
law	מִתּוֹרָתֶֽךָ mi.to.ra.Te.kha	H8451	a precept or statute · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Ephesians 1:17-18 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins…
Isaiah 32:3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Isaiah 29:18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
2 Corinthians 4:4-6 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the…
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father wh…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:18

Observe here, 1. That there are wondrous things in God's law, which we are all concerned, and should covet, to behold, not only strange things, which are very surprising and unexpected, but excellent things, which are to be highly esteemed and valued, and things which were long hidden from the wise and prudent, but are now revealed unto babes. If there were wonders in the law, much more in the gospel, where Christ is all in all, whose name is Wonderful. Well may we, who are so nearly interested, desire to behold these wondrous things, when the angels themselves reach to look into them, Pe1 1:12. Those that would see the wondrous things of God's law and gospel must beg of him to open their ey…

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John Gill on Psalms 119:18

Open thou mine eyes,.... The eyes of my heart or understanding, as Kimchi; or, "reveal mine eyes" (t); take off the veil from them: there is a veil of darkness and ignorance on the hearts of all men, with respect to divine and spiritual things; their understandings are darkened, yea, darkness itself. This veil must be removed; the scales must drop from their eyes; their eyes must be opened and enlightened, before they can discern spiritual things contained in the word of God; and even good men need to have the eyes of their understandings more and more enlightened into these things, as the psalmist here petitions, and the apostle prays for his Ephesians, Ephesians 1:17; that I may behold wo…

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John Calvin on Psalms 119:17-24

Psalm 119:17-24 g 17. Do good to thy servant, that! may live, and keep thy word. g 18. Open my eyes, and I shall see the marvelous things of thy law. g 19. I am a stranger on the earth: do not conceal from me thy commandments. g 20. My soul is rent with the desire it hath at all times unto thy judgments. g 21. Thou hast destroyed the proud, they are accursed that wander from thy commandments. g 22. Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. g 23. Princes also did sit, they spoke against me: thy servant meditated on thy statutes. g 24. Also thy testimonies are my delights, the men of my counsel. 17. Do good to thy servant The term gml gamal, which some render to…

The Church Fathers

The eyes of our inner man see with greater clarity: "Open my eyes, and I shall see the wonders of Thy law." Does this mean that his eyes were covered with a veil? No. But our eyes are our mind. To Jesus alone it belongs to remove this veil, so that we may be able to understand the Scripture and to grasp what is obscurely expressed.
— Origen of Alexandria, DIALOGUE WITH HERACLIDES

At every single reading, "when Moses is read," we must pray to the Father of the Word, that He may fulfill even in us that which is written in the Psalms: "unveil my eyes, and I will consider the wonders of your law." For unless He Himself opens our eyes, how shall we be able to see these so great mysteries that are shaped in the Patriarchs, which are figured now in wells, now in marriages, now in childbearings, now even in barrennesses?
— Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 12.1

Now it was in the law and in the prophets that he was foreordained and prefigured. For this reason too the prophets were called seers, because they saw him whom others did not see. Abraham saw his day and was glad. The heavens that were sealed to a rebellious people were opened to Ezekiel. "Open my eyes," David says, "that I may behold wonderful things out of your law." For "the law is spiritual," and a revelation is needed to enable us to comprehend it and, when God uncovers his face, to behold his glory.
— Jerome, LETTER 53.4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Judgments of God — (1.) The secret decisions of God’s will (Ps. 110:5; 36:6). (2.) The revelations of his will (Ex. 21:1; Deut. 6:20; Ps. 119:7-175). (3.) The infliction of punishment on the wicked (Ex. 6:6; 12:12;…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Blindness · 21:14;22:13,14; — 21:14;22:13,14;
Blindness, Spiritual · Pray for the removal of — Pray for the removal of
Eye, The · Illustrative: (Open,) of spiritual illumination — Illustrative: (Open,) of spiritual illumination
Law Of God, The · Saints: Pray to understand — Saints: Pray to understand

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 119:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:18

John Gill on Psalms 119:18

John Calvin on Psalms 119:17-24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 119:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:18

John Gill on Psalms 119:18

John Calvin on Psalms 119:17-24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 119:17-24

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 119:17-24