8 The precepts of Jehovah `are' upright, Rejoicing the heart, The command of Jehovah `is' pure, enlightening the eyes,
Sayings of Jehovah `are' pure sayings; Silver tried in a furnace of earth refined sevenfold.
Therefore all my appointments I have declared wholly right, Every path of falsehood I have hated!
`Nun.' A lamp to my foot `is' Thy word, And a light to my path.
In the way of Thy testimonies I have joyed, As over all wealth.
Every saying of God `is' tried, A shield He `is' to those trusting in Him.
wherefore by works of law shall no flesh be declared righteous before Him, for through law is a knowledge of sin.
for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,
Adversity and distress have found me, Thy commands `are' my delights.
for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it hath been written, `Cursed `is' every one who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the Book of the Law -- to do them,' and that in law no one is declared righteous with God, is evident, because `The righteous by faith shall live;' and the law is not by faith, but -- `The man who did them shall live in them.' Christ did redeem us from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse, for it hath been written, `Cursed is every one who is hanging on a tree,'
so that the law, indeed, `is' holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good. That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command, for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;
Lo, thou art named a Jew, and dost rest upon the law, and dost boast in God, and dost know the will, and dost approve the distinctions, being instructed out of the law, and hast confidence that thou thyself art a leader of blind ones, a light of those in darkness, an instructor of foolish ones, a teacher of babes, having the form of the knowledge and of the truth in the law.
And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, so that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep, and have done them.
Thou hast met with the rejoicer And the doer of righteousness, In Thy ways they remember Thee, Lo, Thou hast been wroth when we sin, By them `is' continuance, and we are saved.
For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.
That they may observe His statutes, And His laws may keep. Praise ye Jehovah!
because that Abraham hath hearkened to My voice, and keepeth My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws.'
`See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as Jehovah my God hath commanded me -- to do so, in the midst of the land whither ye are going in to possess it; and ye have kept and done `them' (for it `is' your wisdom and your understanding) before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these statutes, and they have said, Only, a people wise and understanding `is' this great nation.
`And it hath been, the place on which Jehovah your God doth fix to cause His name to tabernacle there, thither ye bring in all that which I am commanding you, your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all the choice of your vows which ye vow to Jehovah; and ye have rejoiced before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your handmaids, and the Levite who `is' within your gates, for he hath no part and inheritance with you.
And thou hast rejoiced before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who `is' within thy gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who `are' in thy midst, in the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there,
and thou hast rejoiced in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who `are' within thy gates.
`And on mount Sinai Thou hast come down, even to speak with them from the heavens, and Thou dost give to them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commands.
To do Thy pleasure, my God, I have delighted, And Thy law `is' within my heart.
Blessed `art' Thou, O Jehovah, teach me Thy statutes.
Thy testimonies also `are' my delight, The men of my counsel!
Lo, I have longed for Thy precepts, In Thy righteousness quicken Thou me,
Unless Thy law `were' my delights, Then had I perished in mine affliction.
Than mine enemies Thy command maketh me wiser, For it `is' before me to the age. Above all my teachers I have acted wisely. For Thy testimonies `are' my meditation. Above elders I understand more, For Thy precepts I have kept.
The opening of Thy words enlighteneth, Instructing the simple.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 19
Commentary on Psalms 19 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 19
There are two excellent books which the great God has published for the instruction and edification of the children of men; this psalm treats of them both, and recommends them both to our diligent study.
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
Psa 19:1-6
From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist, in these verses, leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God, whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens, the structure and beauty of them, and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies. This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists, who see there is a heaven and yet say, "There is no God,' who see the effect and yet say, "There is no cause,' but to show the folly of idolaters also, and the vanity of their imagination, who, though the heavens declare the glory of God, yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only, the Father of lights. Now observe here,
In singing these verses we must give God the glory of all the comfort and benefit we have by the lights of the heaven, still looking above and beyond them to the Sun of righteousness.
Psa 19:7-14
God's glory, (that is, his goodness to man) appears much in the works of creation, but much more in and by divine revelation. The holy scripture, as it is a rule both of our duty to God and of our expectation from him, is of much greater use and benefit to us than day or night, than the air we breathe in, or the light of the sun. The discoveries made of God by his works might have served if man had retained his integrity; but, to recover him out of his fallen state, another course must be taken; that must be done by the word of God. And here,
In singing this we should get our hearts much affected with the excellency of the word of God and delivered into it, we should be much affected with the evil of sin, the danger we are in of it and the danger we are in by it, and we should fetch in help from heaven against it.