Psalms 119:5

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

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

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
that	אַ֭חֲלַי 'A.cha.lai	H305	would that! · interjection
ways	דְרָכָ֗י de.ra.Khai	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders plural construct + pronominal suffix
directed	יִכֹּ֥נוּ yi.Ko.nu	H3559	properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
keep	לִשְׁמֹ֥ר lish.Mor	H8104	properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
statutes	חֻקֶּֽיךָ chu.Kei.cha	H2706	an enactment · noun, common masculine plural 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

Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Hebrews 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be…
Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inwar…
Psalms 119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
Romans 7:22-24 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Psalms 119:32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
Psalms 119:173 Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:4-6

We are here taught, 1. To own ourselves under the highest obligations to walk in God's law. The tempter would possess men with an opinion that they are at their liberty whether they will make the word of God their rule or no, that, though it may be good, yet it is not so necessary as they are made to believe it is. He taught our first parents to question the command: Hath God said, You shall not eat? And therefore we are concerned to be well established in this (Psa 119:4): Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts, to make religion our rule; and to keep them diligently, to make religion our business and to mind it carefully and constantly. We are bound, and must obey at our peril. 2. To l…

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John Gill on Psalms 119:5

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! The psalmist, sensible of his own inability, as every good man is, to keep the commands of God, prays for grace, direction, and assistance in it; that the ways of his mind, his thoughts, affections, and inclinations, might be directed to an observance of the divine precepts; knowing he could not command his thoughts, raise his affections, dispose his mind, and incline his heart thereunto; and finding a backwardness to religious exercises and spiritual duties, and that the ways and actions of his life might be guided to the same; being sensible he could not take one step aright without God and Christ; that the way of man is not in himself, an…

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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

"O that," he saith, "my ways were made so direct, that I might keep Thy statutes" (ver. 5). Thou indeed hast charged: O that I could realize what thou hast charged. When thou hearest, "O that," recognise the words of one wishing; and having recognised the expression of a wish, lay aside the pride of presumption. For who saith that he desireth what he hath in such a manner in his power, that without need of any help he can do it? Therefore if man desireth what God chargeth, God must be prayed to grant Himself what He enjoineth...
— 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,…
Law · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Obedience · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

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 119:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:4-6

John Gill on Psalms 119:5

John Calvin on Psalms 119:1-8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 119:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:4-6

John Gill on Psalms 119:5

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 119:4