a command · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
faithful
אֱמוּנָ֑ה'e.mu.Nah
H530
literally firmness · noun, common feminine singular absolute
persecute
רְדָפ֣וּנִיre.da.Fu.ni
H7291
to run after (usually with hostile intent · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
wrongfully
שֶׁ֖קֶרShe.ker
H8267
an untruth · noun, common masculine singular absolute
help
עָזְרֵֽנִי'a.ze.Re.ni
H5826
to surround · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
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 35:19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
Psalms 70:5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
Psalms 35:7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
Psalms 109:26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
Psalms 119:78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
Psalms 119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
Psalms 119:138 Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.
Psalms 119:151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:85-87
David's state was herein a type and figure of the state both of Christ and Christians that he was grievously persecuted; as there are many of his psalms, so there are many of the verses of this psalm, which complain of this, as those here. Here observe,
I. The account he gives of his persecutors and their malice against him. 1. They were proud, and in their pride they persecuted him, glorying in this, that they could trample upon one who was so much cried up, and hoping to raise themselves on his ruins. 2. They were unjust: They persecuted him wrongfully; so far was he from giving them any provocation that he had studied to oblige them; but for his love they were his adversaries. 3. They wer…
All thy commandments are faithful,.... Or, "faithfulness" (x) they are made by a faithful God, who is holy, just, and true; they command faithfulness, sincerity, and uprightness; and require men to love their neighbours as themselves, and to do all they do faithfully, cordially, and affectionately; they are to be done in truth and faithfulness, in charity, out of a pure heart, and faith unfeigned; and therefore to dig pits for men must not be after, but contrary, to the law of God;
they persecute me wrongfully; without a cause, purely out of ill will and for religion's sake; which, as it is an argument with the saints to bear persecution patiently, it is used as an argument with the Lord, t…
Psalm 119:81-88
k 81. My soul hath fainted for thy salvation: I hope in thy word. k 82. My eyes have waxed dim in looking for thy promise, and I say, When wilt thou comfort me? k 83. For I have been as a bottle in the smoke; and yet I have not forgotten thy statutes. k 84. How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on my persecutors? k 85. The proud have digged pits for me, which thing is not according to thy law. k 86. All thy commandments are truth; they persecute we deceitfully; therefore help thou me. k 87. They have almost consumed me upon the earth; yet I have not forsaken thy statutes. k 88. Quicken me according to thy goodness; and I will keep the testimon…
The Church Fathers
Lastly, he adds, "All Your commandments are truth: they have persecuted me unjustly; O be Thou my help" [Psalm 119:86]. And the whole sense depends upon the foregoing: "How many are the days of Your servant: when will You be avenged of them that persecute me?" For that they may persecute me, they have related to me these pleasant tales; but I have preferred Your law to them, which on that account has pleased me more, because all Your commandments are true; not as in their discourses, where vanity abounds. And for this reason "they have persecuted me falsely," because in me they have persecuted nothing save the truth. Therefore help Thou me, that I may struggle for the truth even unto death; because this is at once Your commandment, and therefore it is also the truth.
The true martyrs are those of whom the Lord says, "Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice's sake." Therefore, it is not those who suffer for the sake of injustice and the impious division of Christian unity, but those who suffer persecution for justice's sake who are truly martyrs. Hagar suffered persecution from Sarah, yet the one who persecuted was holy and she who suffered was sinful. Is that any reason for comparing the persecution suffered by Hagar to that with which the wicked Saul afflicted holy David? Obviously, there is a very great difference, not because David suffered, but because he suffered for justice's sake. And the Lord himself was crucified among thieves. But, though they were alike in suffering, they were different in the reason for suffering. Therefore, in the psalm we must understand the voice of the true martyr wishing to be distinguished from false martyrs: "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy." He does not say "distinguish my punishment" but "distinguish my cause." For the punishment of the wicked can be the same, but the cause of the martyrs is not the same, and their cry is, "They have persecuted me unjustly; help me." The psalmist thinks himself worthy of being justly helped because they persecuted unjustly, for, if they persecuted justly, he would not be worthy of help but of chastisement.
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
Faithful — As a designation of Christians, means full of faith, trustful, and not simply trustworthy (Acts 10:45; 16:1; 2 Cor. 6:15; Col. 1:2; 1 Tim. 4:3, 12; 5:16; 6:2; Titus 1:6; Eph. 1:1; 1 Cor. 4:17, etc.).…
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,…
Persecution · OF THE RIGHTEOUS — OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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).
The eightfold Kaph. This strengthening according to God's promise is his earnest desire (כּלה) now, when within a very little his enemies have compassed his ruin (כּלּה). His soul and eyes languish (כּלה as in Psa 69:4; Psa 84:3, cf. Job 19:27) for God's salvation, that it may be unto him according to God's word or promise, that this word may be fulfilled. In Psa 119:83 כּי is hypothetical, as in Psa 21:12 and frequently; here, as perhaps also in Psa 27:10, in the sense of "although" (Ew. ֗362, b). He does not suffer anything to drive God's word out of his mind, although he is already become like a leathern bottle blackened and shrivelled up in the smoke. The custom of the ancients of placin…
