Luke 19:10(v176)For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Isaiah 53:6(v176)All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Luke 15:4-7(v176)“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the…
John 10:16(v176)I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one…
Psalms 119:166-167(v174)I have hoped for your salvation, Yahweh. I have done your commandments. My soul has observed your testimonies. I love them exceedingly.
Show all 61 cross-references
Matthew 15:24(v176)But he answered, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
1 Peter 2:25(v176)For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Psalms 119:93(v176)I will never forget your precepts, for with them, you have revived me.
Isaiah 55:3(v175)Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Ezekiel 34:6(v176)My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There…
Matthew 18:12-13(v176)“What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and…
Psalms 51:14-15(v175)Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Lord, open my…
Psalms 119:16(v174)I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.
Psalms 119:61(v176)The ropes of the wicked bind me, but I won’t forget your law.
Song of Solomon 1:4(v176)Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love…
Ezekiel 34:16(v176)“I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will…
Galatians 4:9(v176)But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental…
Philippians 2:13(v176)For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
James 1:17(v176)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
Psalms 119:111(vv173–174)I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
Psalms 1:2(v174)but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.
Psalms 118:18-19(v175)Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will…
Psalms 119:47(v174)I will delight myself in your commandments, because I love them.
Psalms 119:162(v174)I rejoice at your word, as one who finds great plunder.
Isaiah 26:8-9(v175)Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul. With my soul I…
Isaiah 38:19(v175)The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children.
Isaiah 41:10-14(v173)Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will…
Jeremiah 31:18(v176)“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be…
Hosea 4:6(v176)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to…
Matthew 10:6(v176)Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Joshua 24:22(v173)Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are…
Psalms 30:9(v175)“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
Romans 7:22-25(v174)For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing…
Romans 8:23-25(v174)Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption,…
Romans 8:28(v175)We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
1 Corinthians 11:31-32(v175)For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned…
Philippians 1:23(v174)But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Genesis 49:18(v174)I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.
Deuteronomy 30:19(v173)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore…
2 Samuel 23:5(v174)Isn’t my house so with God? Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation,…
Psalms 9:13-14(v175)Have mercy on me, Yahweh. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death, that I may show all of your…
Psalms 119:24(v174)Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors.
Psalms 119:75(v175)Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Psalms 119:77(v174)Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.
Psalms 119:81(v174)My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
Proverbs 13:12(v174)Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
2 Corinthians 4:17(v175)For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
Joshua 24:15(v173)If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the…
1 Kings 3:11-12(v173)God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself,…
Psalms 37:24(v173)Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.
Psalms 119:30(v173)I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me.
Psalms 119:35(v173)Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.
Psalms 119:40(v173)Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness.
Psalms 119:94(v173)I am yours. Save me, for I have sought your precepts.
Psalms 119:117(v173)Hold me up, and I will be safe, and will have respect for your statutes continually.
Proverbs 1:29(v173)because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
Song of Solomon 5:8(v174)I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
Mark 9:24(v173)Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Luke 10:42(v173)but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
2 Corinthians 12:9(v173)He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in…
Philippians 4:13(v173)I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
61 distinct cross-references across this passage (62 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv173–176173. Let thy hand be to succor me. As…
173. Let thy hand be to succor me. As he had devoted himself to the doctrine of the law, David requests that the hand of God may be stretched forth for his aid. Farther, by these words he declares, that those who yield themselves to God to be governed by His word have continually need of His help. The more sincerely any individual studies to be a good man, so much the more numerous are the ways in which Satan troubles him, and so much the more are the enemies multiplied who molest him on all sides. But when God sees those who once embraced the truth of his word remaining steadfast in their resolution, he is so much the more inclined to aid them. By the word choose in the second clause, the Psalmist has expressed that nothing had hindered him from devoting himself to the law of God. No man will apply this mind to the love of the law without a great struggle, since the thoughts of every man are drawn away to a variety of objects, by the depraved affections of the flesh. This choosing then spoken of shows that it is not through ignorance or an inconsiderate zeal that the children of God desire above all things heavenly doctrine; but as they partake of the flexibility or pliancy of mind common to men, and feel the various impulses of the flesh, they purposely subdue their minds to the obedience of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv175–176That is, thy provident care over me, and wherewith…
That is, thy provident care over me, and wherewith thou wilt judge mine enemies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv173–176Psa 119:173 Let thine hand help me; for I…
Psa 119:173 Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.
Ver. 173. Let thy hand help me] To do what I have promised.
Read full note →
For I have chosen thy precepts] Refusing Satan’s cut-throat kindness.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv173–176For my guide and companion, and chief joy and…
For my guide and companion, and chief joy and treasure.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn vv173, 175, 176Here, 1. David prays that divine grace would work…
Here, 1. David prays that divine grace would work for him: Let thy hand help me. He finds his own hands are not sufficient for him, nor can any creature lend him a helping hand to any purpose; therefore he looks up to God in hopes that the hand that had made him would help him; for, if the Lord do not help us, whence can any creature help us? All our help must be expected from God's hand, from his power and his bounty. 2. He pleads what divine grace had already wrought in him as a pledge of further mercy, being a qualification for it. Three things he pleads: - (1.) That he had made religion his serious and deliberate choice: "I have chosen thy precepts. I took them for my rule, not because I knew no other, but because, upon trial, I knew no better." Those are good, and do good indeed, who are good and do good, not by chance, but from choice; and those who have thus chosen God's precepts may depend upon God's helping hand in all their services and under all their sufferings. (2.) That his heart was upon heaven: I have longed for thy salvation. David, when he had got to the throne, met with enough in the world to court his stay, and to make him say, "It is good to be here;" but still he was looking further, and longing for something better in another world. There is an eternal salvation which all the saints are longing for, and therefore pray that God's hand would help them forward in their way to it. (3.) That he took pleasure in doing his duty: "Thy law is my delight. Not only I delight in it, but it is my delight, the greatest delight I have in this world." Those that are cheerful in their obedience may in faith beg help of God to carry them on in their obedience; and those that expect God's salvation must take delight in his law and their hopes must increase their delight.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v175Judgments - Thy word or testimonies, which are the…
Judgments - Thy word or testimonies, which are the only ground of my hope in thy help.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv173, 175, 176Verse 173. Let thine hand help me] Exert thy…
Verse 173. Let thine hand help me] Exert thy power in my defence.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v176Psa 119:176. I have gone astray like a lost…
Psa 119:176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep — I have too often swerved from the path of thy precepts, through my own infirmity, or the power of temptation. Seek thy servant — As the shepherd doth his wandering sheep, and bring me back into thy fold. Or, as some interpret the psalmist’s meaning, I have wandered like a sheep which is lost, driven from place to place during these tedious persecutions; but be thou pleased, like a careful shepherd, to look after me, and to put me in the right way of escaping all the dangers to which I am exposed, and of recovering my liberty, rest, and peace.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv173–176Let thine hand help me - Do thou help…
Let thine hand help me - Do thou help me - the hand being that by which we accomplish anything.
For I have chosen that precepts - I have chosen them as my comforters and my guide. I have resolved to obey them, and I pray that thou wilt help me to accomplish the purpose of my heart.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv173, 175, 176173. Let thine hand be ready to help me…
173. Let thine hand be ready to help me (R.V.).
for &c.] Psa_119:174 is best taken in close connexion with Psa_119:173 b. He pleads three reasons for an answer to his prayers:—he has deliberately resolved to obey God’s precepts (cp. Psa_119:30; Deu_30:19); he has long been waiting eagerly for deliverance from the hindrances to obedience which surround him (cp. Psa_119:40; Psa_119:166); his devotion has been no grudging service, but his constant delight (Psa_119:24 &c.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn v176(176) I have gone astray like a lost sheep.—It…
(176) I have gone astray like a lost sheep.—It would be in accordance with a true religious character that even at the end of a long protestation of obedience to the Divine law the psalmist should confess his weakness and sin. But while this may be a legitimate application of the close of this remarkable composition, and while the LXX. suggest a comparison with our Lord’s parable by their rendering (comp. Mat_18:11; Luk_19:10), this could hardly have been the intention of the words of this verse. More likely there is a reference to the condition of the community, for the word rendered “lost” (literally, perishing) is used in Isa_27:13 of the exiled Hebrews, and is rendered “outcasts;” the emphatic “I do not forget Thy commandments,” which is the real close of the psalm, seems to make this view imperative.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv173–176Let thine hand help me; literally, be to help…
Let thine hand help me; literally, be to help me; i.e. be ever ready to help me. For I have chosen thy precepts. I have cast aside all other helpers, and have pinned my faith on thee and thy Word.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv173–176Ver. 173. Let thine hand help me. Give me…
Ver. 173. Let thine hand help me. Give me practical succour. Do not entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it not I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succour. Great as thy hand is, let it light on me, even me. The prayer reminds me of Peter walking on the sea and beginning to sink; he, too, cried, "Lord, help me, "and the hand of his Master was stretched out for his rescue.
For I have chosen, thy precepts. A good argument. A man may fitly ask help from God's hand when he has dedicated his own hand entirely to the obedience of the faith. "I have chosen thy precepts." His election was made, his mind was made up. In preference to all earthly rules and ways, in preference even to his own will, he had chosen to be obedient to the divine commands. Will not God help such a man in holy work and sacred service? Assuredly he will. If grace has given us the heart with which to will, it will also give us the hand with which to perform. Wherever, under the constraints of a divine call, we are engaged in any high and lofty enterprise, and feel it to be too much for our strength, we may always invoke the right hand of God in words like these.
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Ver. 173. Let thine hand help me. David having before made promises of thankfulness, seeks now help from God, that he may perform them. Our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of God; to will and to do are both from him. In temporal things men ofttimes take great pains with small profit; first, because they seek not to make their conscience good; next, because they seek not help front God: therefore they speed no better than Peter, who fished all night and got nothing till he cast his net in the name of the Lord. But in spiritual things we may far less look to prosper, if we call not for God's assistance: the means will not profit us unless God's blessing accompany them. There is preaching, but for the most part without profit; there is prayer, but it prevails not; there is hearing of the word, but without edifying; and all because in spiritual exercises instant prayer is not made unto God, that his hand may bc with us to help us. Abraham Wright.
Ver. 173. I have chosen thy precepts. Hath God given you a heart to make choice of his ways? O bless God! There was a time when you went on in giving pleasing to the flesh, and you saw then no better thing than such a kind of life, and the Lord hath been pleased to discover better things to you, so as to make you renounce your former ways, and to make choice of another way, in which your souls have found other manner of comforts, and satisfactions, and contentments than ever you did before. Bless God as David did: "Blessed be the Lord who hath given me counsel"...Seeing God hath thus inclined your heart to himself, be for ever established in your choice: seeing God hath shown to you his ways, as Pilate said in another case, "That I have written I have written": so say you, "That I have chosen I have chosen." Jeremiah Burroughs, in "Moses his Choice."
Ver. 173, 174. I have chosen. My delight. Cheerfulness accompanies election of a thing. Lumpishness is a sign we never chose it, but were forced to it. Such cheerfulness in service procures cheerfulness in mercies: Isa 64:5, "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness." He puts to his hand to help such an one. Christ loves not melancholy and phlegmatic service; such a temper in acts of obedience is a disgrace to God and to religion: to God, it betrays us to have jealous thoughts of God, as though he were a hard master; to religion, it makes others think duties are drudgeries, and not privileges.
Stephen Charnock.
Ver. 173.
1. "To will is present with me."
2. "How to perform that which I would, I find not."
3. "Help. Lord."
Ver. 173.
1. Help needed to keep the divine precepts.
2. Help sought: "Let thy hand, "etc. We should choose nothing and do nothing in which we cannot ask help from God.
G.R.
Ver. 173.
1. God's Hand.
(a) Its warm hold (Joh 5:29).
(b) Its wealth of contents (Ps 104:28).
(c) Its heavy blow (Ps 39:10).
(d) Its weight (1Sa 5:11).
(e) Its saving reach (Isa 54:1).
(f) Its sweet shadow (Isa 49:2), etc.
2. The saint plucks him by the sleeve: "Let thy hand help me."
(a) His humble representation.
(b) His down drawing of the hand of God.
W.B.H.
Ver. 173. Let Thy hand help me.
1. Thy reconciling hand: "stretched out."
2. Thy comforting hand; like that which touched Daniel and John.
4. Thy protecting hand: "all his saints are in thy hand": De 33:3. "Great Shepherd of the sheep."
5. Thy supporting hand: "I will uphold thee."
6. Thy governing hand: "all my times are in thy hand."
7. Thy chastening hand: "Thy hand was heavy upon me."
8. Thy prospering hand: "the hand of the Lord was with, "etc.
W.J.
Psalms 119:174*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv173–176Let Thine hand help me; for I have chosen…
Psa_119:173-175
Let Thine hand help me; for I have chosen Thy precepts.
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The character and requests of a truly godly man
I. His character.
1. His choice is the precepts of God.
2. His object of desire is Gods salvation. With respect to earthly things, nature is contented with a little, and grace with less. Not so in spiritual things. Here grace is insatiable; the more it has received, the more it desires.
3. His source of joy is Gods law. Here he chooses the term law for denoting the whole revelation of Gods will, to remind us of the inseparable connection between privilege and duty, faith and obedience, holiness and comfort; and to teach us that we ought to be thankful to God for the direction tie hath given us in the road to heaven, no less than for the promises by which we are assured of the possession of it.
II. His leading requests. He prays--
1. For strengthening and upholding grace. Let Thine hand help me.
2. For quickening grace. Let my soul live. This was the life for which David prayed; a confirmed sense of pardoning mercy, larger measures of sanctifying grace, communion with his God in a present world, and the full and everlasting enjoyment of Him in heaven. The life for which he prays is no other than the salvation for which he longed. He had tasted of its sweetness, and he thirsted for more. Let my soul live, saith he; to which he subjoins, and it shall praise Thee.
III. The ultimate end for which David was so earnest in his requests for help and life, and the improvement he proposed to make of both. He prayed for upholding and quickening grace, that he might be better qualified for the service of his God, to whom he had devoted himself and his all. Thus he prays (Psa_51:12; Psa_51:18; Psa_51:15). And the principal reason for which he was desirous to obtain Divine consolation appears from the use he intended to make of it (verse 32). (R. Walker.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv173, 175May your hand help me
May your hand help me
The hand is a synecdoche for the whole person. AT: "Please help me" (See: Synecdoche)
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have chosen
"have chosen to obey"
for your rescue
"you to rescue me"
your law is my delight
The abstract noun "delight" can be stated as a verb. "I very much enjoy obeying your law" (See: Abstract Nouns)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv173–176 173. Let thy hand be to succor me. As…
173. Let thy hand be to succor me. As he had devoted himself to the doctrine of the law, David requests that the hand of God may be stretched forth for his aid. Farther, by these words he declares, that those who yield themselves to God to be governed by His word have continually need of His help. The more sincerely any individual studies to be a good man, so much the more numerous are the ways in which Satan troubles him, and so much the more are the enemies multiplied who molest him on all sides. But when God sees those who once embraced the truth of his word remaining steadfast in their resolution, he is so much the more inclined to aid them. By the word choose in the second clause, the Psalmist has expressed that nothing had hindered him from devoting himself to the law of God. No man will apply this mind to the love of the law without a great struggle, since the thoughts of every man are drawn away to a variety of objects, by the depraved affections of the flesh. This choosing then spoken of shows that it is not through ignorance or an inconsiderate zeal that the children of God desire above all things heavenly doctrine; but as they partake of the flexibility or pliancy of mind common to men, and feel the various impulses of the flesh, they purposely subdue their minds to the obedience of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv175–176 That is, thy provident care over me, and wherewith…
That is, thy provident care over me, and wherewith thou wilt judge mine enemies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv173–176 Psa 119:173 Let thine hand help me; for I…
Psa 119:173 Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.
Ver. 173. Let thy hand help me] To do what I have promised.
Read full note →
For I have chosen thy precepts] Refusing Satan’s cut-throat kindness.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv173–176 For my guide and companion, and chief joy and…
For my guide and companion, and chief joy and treasure.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv173, 175, 176 Here, 1. David prays that divine grace would work…
Here, 1. David prays that divine grace would work for him: Let thy hand help me. He finds his own hands are not sufficient for him, nor can any creature lend him a helping hand to any purpose; therefore he looks up to God in hopes that the hand that had made him would help him; for, if the Lord do not help us, whence can any creature help us? All our help must be expected from God's hand, from his power and his bounty. 2. He pleads what divine grace had already wrought in him as a pledge of further mercy, being a qualification for it. Three things he pleads: - (1.) That he had made religion his serious and deliberate choice: "I have chosen thy precepts. I took them for my rule, not because I knew no other, but because, upon trial, I knew no better." Those are good, and do good indeed, who are good and do good, not by chance, but from choice; and those who have thus chosen God's precepts may depend upon God's helping hand in all their services and under all their sufferings. (2.) That his heart was upon heaven: I have longed for thy salvation. David, when he had got to the throne, met with enough in the world to court his stay, and to make him say, "It is good to be here;" but still he was looking further, and longing for something better in another world. There is an eternal salvation which all the saints are longing for, and therefore pray that God's hand would help them forward in their way to it. (3.) That he took pleasure in doing his duty: "Thy law is my delight. Not only I delight in it, but it is my delight, the greatest delight I have in this world." Those that are cheerful in their obedience may in faith beg help of God to carry them on in their obedience; and those that expect God's salvation must take delight in his law and their hopes must increase their delight.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v175 Judgments - Thy word or testimonies, which are the…
Judgments - Thy word or testimonies, which are the only ground of my hope in thy help.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv173, 175, 176 Verse 173. Let thine hand help me] Exert thy…
Verse 173. Let thine hand help me] Exert thy power in my defence.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v176 Psa 119:176. I have gone astray like a lost…
Psa 119:176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep — I have too often swerved from the path of thy precepts, through my own infirmity, or the power of temptation. Seek thy servant — As the shepherd doth his wandering sheep, and bring me back into thy fold. Or, as some interpret the psalmist’s meaning, I have wandered like a sheep which is lost, driven from place to place during these tedious persecutions; but be thou pleased, like a careful shepherd, to look after me, and to put me in the right way of escaping all the dangers to which I am exposed, and of recovering my liberty, rest, and peace.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv173–176 Let thine hand help me - Do thou help…
Let thine hand help me - Do thou help me - the hand being that by which we accomplish anything.
For I have chosen that precepts - I have chosen them as my comforters and my guide. I have resolved to obey them, and I pray that thou wilt help me to accomplish the purpose of my heart.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv173, 175, 176 173. Let thine hand be ready to help me…
173. Let thine hand be ready to help me (R.V.).
for &c.] Psa_119:174 is best taken in close connexion with Psa_119:173 b. He pleads three reasons for an answer to his prayers:—he has deliberately resolved to obey God’s precepts (cp. Psa_119:30; Deu_30:19); he has long been waiting eagerly for deliverance from the hindrances to obedience which surround him (cp. Psa_119:40; Psa_119:166); his devotion has been no grudging service, but his constant delight (Psa_119:24 &c.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v176 (176) I have gone astray like a lost sheep.—It…
(176) I have gone astray like a lost sheep.—It would be in accordance with a true religious character that even at the end of a long protestation of obedience to the Divine law the psalmist should confess his weakness and sin. But while this may be a legitimate application of the close of this remarkable composition, and while the LXX. suggest a comparison with our Lord’s parable by their rendering (comp. Mat_18:11; Luk_19:10), this could hardly have been the intention of the words of this verse. More likely there is a reference to the condition of the community, for the word rendered “lost” (literally, perishing) is used in Isa_27:13 of the exiled Hebrews, and is rendered “outcasts;” the emphatic “I do not forget Thy commandments,” which is the real close of the psalm, seems to make this view imperative.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv173–176 Let thine hand help me; literally, be to help…
Let thine hand help me; literally, be to help me; i.e. be ever ready to help me. For I have chosen thy precepts. I have cast aside all other helpers, and have pinned my faith on thee and thy Word.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv173–176 Ver. 173. Let thine hand help me. Give me…
Ver. 173. Let thine hand help me. Give me practical succour. Do not entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it not I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succour. Great as thy hand is, let it light on me, even me. The prayer reminds me of Peter walking on the sea and beginning to sink; he, too, cried, "Lord, help me, "and the hand of his Master was stretched out for his rescue.
For I have chosen, thy precepts. A good argument. A man may fitly ask help from God's hand when he has dedicated his own hand entirely to the obedience of the faith. "I have chosen thy precepts." His election was made, his mind was made up. In preference to all earthly rules and ways, in preference even to his own will, he had chosen to be obedient to the divine commands. Will not God help such a man in holy work and sacred service? Assuredly he will. If grace has given us the heart with which to will, it will also give us the hand with which to perform. Wherever, under the constraints of a divine call, we are engaged in any high and lofty enterprise, and feel it to be too much for our strength, we may always invoke the right hand of God in words like these.
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Ver. 173. Let thine hand help me. David having before made promises of thankfulness, seeks now help from God, that he may perform them. Our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of God; to will and to do are both from him. In temporal things men ofttimes take great pains with small profit; first, because they seek not to make their conscience good; next, because they seek not help front God: therefore they speed no better than Peter, who fished all night and got nothing till he cast his net in the name of the Lord. But in spiritual things we may far less look to prosper, if we call not for God's assistance: the means will not profit us unless God's blessing accompany them. There is preaching, but for the most part without profit; there is prayer, but it prevails not; there is hearing of the word, but without edifying; and all because in spiritual exercises instant prayer is not made unto God, that his hand may bc with us to help us. Abraham Wright.
Ver. 173. I have chosen thy precepts. Hath God given you a heart to make choice of his ways? O bless God! There was a time when you went on in giving pleasing to the flesh, and you saw then no better thing than such a kind of life, and the Lord hath been pleased to discover better things to you, so as to make you renounce your former ways, and to make choice of another way, in which your souls have found other manner of comforts, and satisfactions, and contentments than ever you did before. Bless God as David did: "Blessed be the Lord who hath given me counsel"...Seeing God hath thus inclined your heart to himself, be for ever established in your choice: seeing God hath shown to you his ways, as Pilate said in another case, "That I have written I have written": so say you, "That I have chosen I have chosen." Jeremiah Burroughs, in "Moses his Choice."
Ver. 173, 174. I have chosen. My delight. Cheerfulness accompanies election of a thing. Lumpishness is a sign we never chose it, but were forced to it. Such cheerfulness in service procures cheerfulness in mercies: Isa 64:5, "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness." He puts to his hand to help such an one. Christ loves not melancholy and phlegmatic service; such a temper in acts of obedience is a disgrace to God and to religion: to God, it betrays us to have jealous thoughts of God, as though he were a hard master; to religion, it makes others think duties are drudgeries, and not privileges.
Stephen Charnock.
Ver. 173.
1. "To will is present with me."
2. "How to perform that which I would, I find not."
3. "Help. Lord."
Ver. 173.
1. Help needed to keep the divine precepts.
2. Help sought: "Let thy hand, "etc. We should choose nothing and do nothing in which we cannot ask help from God.
G.R.
Ver. 173.
1. God's Hand.
(a) Its warm hold (Joh 5:29).
(b) Its wealth of contents (Ps 104:28).
(c) Its heavy blow (Ps 39:10).
(d) Its weight (1Sa 5:11).
(e) Its saving reach (Isa 54:1).
(f) Its sweet shadow (Isa 49:2), etc.
2. The saint plucks him by the sleeve: "Let thy hand help me."
(a) His humble representation.
(b) His down drawing of the hand of God.
W.B.H.
Ver. 173. Let Thy hand help me.
1. Thy reconciling hand: "stretched out."
2. Thy comforting hand; like that which touched Daniel and John.
3. Thy supplying hand. "Thou openest thy hand, "etc.
4. Thy protecting hand: "all his saints are in thy hand": De 33:3. "Great Shepherd of the sheep."
5. Thy supporting hand: "I will uphold thee."
6. Thy governing hand: "all my times are in thy hand."
7. Thy chastening hand: "Thy hand was heavy upon me."
8. Thy prospering hand: "the hand of the Lord was with, "etc.
W.J.
Psalms 119:174*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv173–176 Let Thine hand help me; for I have chosen…
Psa_119:173-175
Let Thine hand help me; for I have chosen Thy precepts.
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The character and requests of a truly godly man
I. His character.
1. His choice is the precepts of God.
2. His object of desire is Gods salvation. With respect to earthly things, nature is contented with a little, and grace with less. Not so in spiritual things. Here grace is insatiable; the more it has received, the more it desires.
3. His source of joy is Gods law. Here he chooses the term law for denoting the whole revelation of Gods will, to remind us of the inseparable connection between privilege and duty, faith and obedience, holiness and comfort; and to teach us that we ought to be thankful to God for the direction tie hath given us in the road to heaven, no less than for the promises by which we are assured of the possession of it.
II. His leading requests. He prays--
1. For strengthening and upholding grace. Let Thine hand help me.
2. For quickening grace. Let my soul live. This was the life for which David prayed; a confirmed sense of pardoning mercy, larger measures of sanctifying grace, communion with his God in a present world, and the full and everlasting enjoyment of Him in heaven. The life for which he prays is no other than the salvation for which he longed. He had tasted of its sweetness, and he thirsted for more. Let my soul live, saith he; to which he subjoins, and it shall praise Thee.
III. The ultimate end for which David was so earnest in his requests for help and life, and the improvement he proposed to make of both. He prayed for upholding and quickening grace, that he might be better qualified for the service of his God, to whom he had devoted himself and his all. Thus he prays (Psa_51:12; Psa_51:18; Psa_51:15). And the principal reason for which he was desirous to obtain Divine consolation appears from the use he intended to make of it (verse 32). (R. Walker.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv173, 175 May your hand help me
May your hand help me
The hand is a synecdoche for the whole person. AT: "Please help me" (See: Synecdoche)
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have chosen
"have chosen to obey"
for your rescue
"you to rescue me"
your law is my delight
The abstract noun "delight" can be stated as a verb. "I very much enjoy obeying your law" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
hand
law
delight
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v176 119:176 God, the Great Shepherd, seeks out his lost…
119:176 God, the Great Shepherd, seeks out his lost sheep (23:1; Luke 15:4-6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.