So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word.
Parallel Translations
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So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word.
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So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
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That I may have an answer for him that taunteth me; for I trust in Thy word.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Psalms 119:42 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 27:25 Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
- Proverbs 27:11 Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.
- Matthew 27:63 saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’
- 2 Samuel 16:7-8 Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and wicked fellow! Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of Saul’s house, in whose place you have reigned! Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!”
- Psalms 56:10-11 In God, I will praise his word. In Yahweh, I will praise his word. I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
- Psalms 119:49 Remember your word to your servant, because you gave me hope.
- Psalms 119:74 Those who fear you will see me and be glad, because I have put my hope in your word.
- Psalms 119:81 My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
- 2 Samuel 7:12-16 When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.” ’ ”
- 2 Samuel 19:18-20 A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he had come over the Jordan. He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”
- 1 Chronicles 28:3-6 But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.’ However Yahweh, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen Judah to be prince; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. Of all my sons (for Yahweh has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of Yahweh’s kingdom over Israel. He said to me, ‘Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.
- Psalms 3:2 Many there are who say of my soul, “There is no help for him in God.”
- Psalms 42:10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Psalms 56:4 In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
- Psalms 71:10-11 For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together, saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.”
- Psalms 89:19-37 Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have given strength to the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people. I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil, with whom my hand shall be established. My arm will also strengthen him. No enemy will tax him. No wicked man will oppress him. I will beat down his adversaries before him, and strike those who hate him. But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. In my name, his horn will be exalted. I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers. He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’ I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more. My covenant will stand firm with him. I will also make his offspring endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances; if they break my statutes, and don’t keep my commandments; then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered. Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His offspring will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”
- Matthew 27:40-43 and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
- Psalms 109:25 I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By trusting in God’s word he assureth himself to…
By trusting in God’s word he assureth himself to be able to confute the slanders of his adversaries.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 119:42 So shall I have wherewith to answer…
Psa 119:42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
Ver. 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer] i.e. To stop an open mouth. Verbal apologies are sometimes necessary, but real always; we should, by a pious conversation, put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, who, like Blackamoors, despise beauty; like dogs, bark at the shining of the moon. We are also to beg deliverance of God, for the confutation of such as say we shall never be delivered.
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 That reproacheth me; that chargeth me with folly for…
That reproacheth me; that chargeth me with folly for my piety and trust in thy promises.
For I trust in thy word; or, because I trust, &c. This was the matter of their reproach.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So shall I keep thy law continually,.... Which denotes…
So shall I keep thy law continually,.... Which denotes not the perfection of keeping the law, but the constancy of it: the psalmist was persuaded, that so long as he had the word of truth in his mouth, and the judgments of God in his view, he should be diligent and constant in the discharge of his duty, which these directed and encouraged him unto;
for ever and ever; in this life and that to come; when the law of God will be kept, and his will done perfectly by the saints, as it now is by the angels in heaven; or this may be connected with the law of God; which law is for ever and ever, being of eternal duration and obligation. The whole may be understood of the law of faith, or doctrine of the Gospel, and be rendered, "so shall I observe thy doctrine continually"; contained in the word of truth; which doctrine is for ever and ever, it is the everlasting Gospel.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer]…
Verse 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer] Many say, "My hope in thy mercy is vain;" but when thou fulfillest thy promises to me, then shall I answer to the confusion of their infidelity.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So shall I have wherewith to answer him that…
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me - I shall have something by which I may reply to those who calumniate me. So the Saviour replied to the suggestions of the tempter almost wholly by passages of Scripture Mat 4:4, Mat 4:7,Mat 4:10; and so, in many cases, the best answer that can be given to reproaches on the subject of religion will be found in the very words of Scripture. A man of little learning, except that which he has derived from the Bible, may often thus silence the cavils and reproaches of the learned sceptic; a man of simplehearted, pure piety, with no weapon but the word of God, may often thus be better armed than if he had all the arguments of the schools at his command. Compare Eph 6:17.
For I trust in thy word - I believe it; I rely on it; I confide in that, as my only comfort and protection.
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 42. So shall I have an answer for him…
42. So shall I have an answer for him that reproacheth me (R.V.)] Personal experience of God’s manifold lovingkindness manifested in his deliverance will enable him to return a conclusive answer to those who taunt him with the uselessness of serving God. P.B.V. follows some of the Ancient Versions in reading the plural, my blasphemers.
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 (42) So shall I have.—Better literally, as the LXX.…
VAU.
(42) So shall I have.—Better literally, as the LXX. and Vulg., and I shall answer my reviler a word, for I trust in Thy word, i.e., when reproached it will be enough to pronounce God’s promise. The repetition of davar here and in Psa_119:43 makes for this explanation in preference to that of the margin.
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 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that…
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me (comp. ver. 22). If God"s favor were manifestly shown him, his enemies would be sufficiently answered. For I trust in thy Word. This is what he looks for, since he has a full trust in God"s promises to his servants.
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 Ver. 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer…
Ver. 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me. This is an unanswerable answer. When God, by granting us salvation, gives to our prayers an answer of peace, we are ready at once to answer the objections of the infidel, the quibbles of the sceptical, and the sneers of the contemptuous. It is most desirable that revilers should be answered, and hence we may expect the Lord to save his people in order that a weapon may be put into their hands with which to rout his adversaries. When those who reproach us are also reproaching God, we may ask him to help us to silence them by sure proofs of his mercy and faithfulness.
For I trust in thy word. His faith was seen by his being trustful while under trial, and he pleads it as a reason why he should be helped to beat back reproaches by a happy experience. Faith is our argument when we seek mercies and salvation; faith in the Lord who has spoken to us in his word. "I trust in thy word" is a declaration more worth the making than any other; for he who can truly make it has received power to become a child of God, and so to be the heir of unnumbered mercies. God hath more respect to a man's trust than to all else that is in him; for the Lord hath chosen faith to be the hand into which he will place his mercies and his salvation. If any reproach us for trusting in God, we reply to them with arguments the most conclusive when we show that God has kept his promises, heard our prayers, and supplied our needs. Even the most sceptical are forced to bow before the logic of facts.
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In this second verse of this eight the Psalmist makes a confession of faith, and a declaration of his belief and experience. Note that he does the same in the corresponding verses of the sections which follow. See Ps 119:50, "Thy word hath quickened me"; Ps 119:58, "I entreated thy favour"; Ps 119:66, "I have believed thy commandments"; Ps 119:74, "I have hoped in thy word." A wise preacher might find in these a series of experimental discourses.
Ver. 42. So shall I have, etc. I shall have something by which I may reply to those who calumniate me. So the Saviour replied to the suggestions of the tempter almost wholly by passages of Scripture (Mt 4:4, 7, 10); and so, in many cases, the best answer that can be given to reproaches on the subject of religion will be found in the very words of Scripture. A man of little learning, except that which he has derived from the Bible, may often thus silence the cavils and reproaches of the learned sceptic; a man of simple hearted, pure piety, with no weapon but the word of God, may often thus be better armed than if he had all the arguments of the schools at his command. Comp. Eph 6:17. Albert Barnes.
Ver. 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer, etc. When the heart realizes assured salvation, it is supplied with abundant answers to those who sneer at the delights of faith. Henry Law.
Ver. 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer, etc. Hugo Cardinalis observeth that there are three sorts of blasphemers of the godly, the devils, heretics, and slanderers. The devil must be answered by the internal word of humility; heretics by the external word of wisdom; slanderers by the active word of a good life. Richard Greenham.
Ver. 42. So shall I have, etc. For I should give them a short answer, and a true one, that I trust in thy word; I put my confidence in thee, who canst make good thy promises, because thou art omnipotent; and wilt, because thou art merciful. William Nicholson.
Ver. 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer, etc. This follows the phrase, "according to thy word." Christians should learn from the example of David what to oppose to the reproaches and false accusations of the enemies of the truth. Nothing is done by railing; but weapons should be taken from the word of God; and these are strong through faith in God for the overturning of both the Devil himself and his instruments. For truly with weapons of this kind the Saviour himself discomfited Satan in the wilderness (Mt 4:1-11); and Paul (Eph 6:10-18) puts on himself, and commends to the Christian soldier, the girdle of Divine truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Solomon Gessler.
Ver. 42. Wherewith to answer, etc. It is not forbidden to believers, modestly and fully, to answer those that reproach them, and to rebut the lie. See Pr 26:5 27:11. But to be able to answer them is received as a blessing from God. Martin Geier.
Ver. 42-43. In Ps 119:42 there is a play upon the two senses of the term "word, "thus: "and I will answer my revilers a word, for I have trusted in thy word." Having trusted in thy word of promise, I shall have a word of reply to make to them when thou shalt graciously hear this prayer. Take not thy word of truth (i.e., of promise) out of my mouth; let me have it still to speak of before my enemies and to rest upon for my own soul. If God were to fail in fulfilling his word of promise, it would, in the sense here contemplated, be quite taken out of his mouth. Henry Cowles.
Ver. 42. Faith's answer to reproach found in the fact that she trusts God's word.
Ver. 42-43, 47. Faith, hope, and love. "I trust." "I have hoped." "I have loved." Faith warring, hope testifying, love obeying.
Psalms 119:43*
Ver 43. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Do not prevent my pleading for thee by leaving me without deliverance; for how could I continue to proclaim thy word if I found it fail me? such would seem to be the run of the meaning. The word of truth cannot be a joy to our mouths unless we have an experience of it in our lives, and it may be wise for us to be silent if We cannot support our testimonies by the verdict of our consciousness. This prayer may also refer to other modes by which we may be disabled from speaking in the name of the Lord: as, for instance, by our falling into open sin, by our becoming depressed and despairing, by our labouring under sickness or mental aberration, by our finding no door of utterance, or meeting with no willing audience. He who has once preached the gospel from his heart is filled with horror at the idea of being put out of the ministry; he will crave to be allowed a little share in the holy testimony, and will reckon his dumb Sabbaths to be days of banishment and punishment.
For I have hoped in thy judgments. He had expected God to appear and vindicate his cause, that so he might speak with confidence concerning his faithfulness. God is the author of our hopes, and we may most fittingly entreat him to fulfil them. The judgments of his providence are the outcome of his word; what he says in the Scriptures he actually performs in his government; we may therefore look for him to show himself strong on the behalf of his own threatenings and promises, and we shall not look in vain.
God's ministers are sometimes silenced through the sins of their people, and it becomes them to plead against such a judgment; better far that they should suffer sickness or poverty than that the candle of the gospel should be put out among them, and that thus they should be left to perish without remedy. The Lord save us, who are his ministers, from being made the instruments of inflicting such a penalty. Let us exhibit a cheerful hopefulness in God, that we may plead it in prayer with him when he threatens to close our lips.
In the close of this verse there is a declaration of what the Psalmist had done in reference to the word of the Lord, and in this the thirds of the octaves are often alike. See Ps 119:35, "therein do I delight"; Ps 119:43, "I have hoped in thy judgments"; Ps 119:51, "yet have I not declined from thy law"; Ps 119:59, "I turned my feet to thy testimonies"; and Ps 119:67, 83, 99, etc. These verses would furnish an admirable series of meditations.
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 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that…
Psa_119:42
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: far I trust in Thy Word.
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The reproach answered
His state was this--depending upon, and trusting to that word of promise which the Holy Ghost had applied with power to his conscience; not relying upon the bare letter of truth, but leaning upon the sure word of promise which had been brought home with power to his heart. Being, then, in this state, he only had a greater hungering and thirsting after further food. What he had already received from God had not brought into his soul lasting satisfaction; it had rather enkindled his appetite for more. Fresh wants called urgently for fresh deliverances; new diseases required anew the healing hand. Being in this state, then, he longs after the mercies of God, and hungers after His salvation. He was driven as well as drawn, impelled by urgent necessity as well as allured by Divine encouragements. An enemy was at hand who dogged his steps, an accuser with a heavy bill of charges was waiting at his gate.
I. There are many accusers that reproach a living soul.
1. The law of God reproaches every living soul to which it is spiritually applied, for disobedience to it.
2. Our own heart is continually reproaching us, for our shortcomings in all we desire to perform to Gods glory.
3. Professors of religion are continually casting their reproaches upon us. They treat us as Peninnah treated Hannah.
4. Even the world will sometimes reproach Gods people for covetousness, worldliness, a slanderous tongue, resentment of injuries, levity, frivolity, carelessness, etc.
5. Satan often reproaches the children of God (Rev_12:10).
II. The inability of the creature to answer any of these reproaches. Can he bring forward his good works? No; the sentence of the law is within, and good works, could he perform them, are merely external things. Can he bring forward resolutions, and promises, and vows to do better for the future? No; these promises, resolutions, and vows spring from the flesh, but condemnation is written in his spirit. Shall he answer these reproaches by his own prayers? No; for the condemnation of the law is written in his spiritual conscience, and only so far as prayer is indited by the Spirit, will it go up out of a spiritual heart.
III. The desires and breathings of the soul after such a manifestation of mercy as shall afford a sufficient answer (verse 41). If you will observe, the word mercies is in the plural, there being many mercies; but salvation is in the singular number, there being only one salvation. In what way, then, did he want these mercies? Merely as standing in the letter of the word? Only as recorded in the inspired word of truth?--as things to look at--as objects hung up, as it were, in a picture, merely for the eye to gaze upon? No; he wanted them in his heart, to come to him, to visit him, to be breathed into him, to be made part and parcel of him, to he the life-blood that should circulate in his veins, to be the very Kingdom of God set up with power in his soul. And why did he want internal mercies? Because he had internal reproaches. Why did he need mercies in his soul? because condemnation was in his soul. It was there the sentence of death was written; it was there the sentence of acquittal was to be recorded. It was there that reproach was felt; it was there the answer to the reproach was to be given.
IV. The way in which these answers are communicated. If the law reproaches, salvation in the heart is an answer to its reproach. If our own heart condemns us, to have a sense of Gods salvation in the soul is an answer to every reproach that the heart can bring. If the world condemns us, casts out our names as evil, imputes to us practices which we abhor, tarnishes our fair fame, and throws upon us every base imputation, if we have salvation in our hearts, it is a sufficient answer to all the reproaches that are cast upon us. (J. C. Philpot.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.