Psalms 119:2

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Blessed	אַ֭שְׁרֵי 'Ash.rei	H835	happiness · noun, common masculine plural construct
keep	נֹצְרֵ֥י no.tze.Rei	H5341	to guard · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
testimonies	עֵדֹתָ֗יו 'e.do.Tav	H5713	testimony · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
seek	יִדְרְשֽׁוּהוּ yid.re.Shu.hu	H1875	properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
heart	לֵ֥ב lev	H3820	the heart · noun, common masculine singular absolute

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

Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Psalms 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make…
Psalms 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Deuteronomy 6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:1-3

The psalmist here shows that godly people are happy people; they are, and shall be, blessed indeed. Felicity is the thing we all pretend to aim at and pursue. He does not say here wherein it consists; it is enough for us to know what we must do and be that we may attain to it, and that we are here told. All men would be happy, but few take the right way; God has here laid before us the right way, which we may be sure will end in happiness, though it be strait and narrow. Blessednesses are to the righteous; all manner of blessedness. Now observe the characters of the happy people. Those are happy, 1. Who make the will of God the rule of all their actions, and govern themselves, in their whole…

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John Gill on Psalms 119:2

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies,.... The whole word of God, the Scriptures of truth, are his testimonies: they testify of the mind of God, and of his love and grace in the method of salvation by Christ; they testify of Christ, his person, offices, and grace; of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow; and of all the happiness that comes to the people of God thereby. The law is called a testimony, which being put into the ark, that had the name of the ark of the testimony. This is a testimony of the perfections of God, his holiness, justice, and goodness displayed in it; and of his good and perfect will, what should or should not be done. The Gospel is the testim…

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John Calvin on Psalms 119:1-8

Psalm 119:1-8 ' 1. Blessed are they who are upright, [396] in their way, walking in the law of Jehovah. ' 2. Blessed are they who, keeping his testimonies, seek him with all their heart. ' 3. Surely they do not work iniquity, who walk in his ways. ' 4. Thou hast commanded that thy statutes should be observed carefully [397] ' 5. I wish that my ways may be directed to the observing of thy statutes! ' 6. Then I shall not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy precepts. ' 7. I will praise thee in the uprightness of my heart, when I shall have learned the judgments of thy righteousness. ' 8. I will observe thy statutes: do not forsake me very far. [398] Some call this the octonary psalm, b…

The Church Fathers

Listen now to what he adds: "Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with their whole heart" [Psalm 119:2]. No other class of the blessed seems to me to be mentioned in these words, than that which has been already spoken of. For to examine into the testimonies of the Lord, and to seek Him with all the heart, this is to be undefiled in the way, this is to walk in the law of the Lord.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 119

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

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,…
Blessed, The · Who hear and keep the word of God — Who hear and keep the word of God
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Holiness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Law · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Obedience · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Perfection · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Seekers · 5:8;8:5,6; — 5:8;8:5,6;
Seeking God · Blessedness of — Blessedness of

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 119:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:1-3

John Gill on Psalms 119:2

John Calvin on Psalms 119:1-8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 119:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:1-3

John Gill on Psalms 119:2

John Calvin on Psalms 119:1-8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 119:1-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 119:1-3