Mazmur 119:65-80

ט (Tet)

119:65 You are good ¹  to your servant,

O Lord, just as you promised. ² 

119:66 Teach me proper discernment ³  and understanding!

For I consider your commands to be reliable. ⁴ 

119:67 Before I was afflicted I used to stray off, ⁵ 

but now I keep your instructions. ⁶ 

119:68 You are good and you do good.

Teach me your statutes!

119:69 Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies, ⁷ 

but I observe your precepts with all my heart.

119:70 Their hearts are calloused, ⁸ 

but I find delight in your law.

119:71 It was good for me to suffer,

so that I might learn your statutes.

119:72 The law you have revealed is more important to me

than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. ⁹ 

י (Yod)

119:73 Your hands made me and formed me. ¹⁰ 

Give me understanding so that I might learn ¹¹  your commands.

119:74 Your loyal followers will be glad when they see me, ¹² 

for I find hope in your word.

119:75 I know, Lord, that your regulations ¹³  are just.

You disciplined me because of your faithful devotion to me. ¹⁴ 

119:76 May your loyal love console me,

as you promised your servant. ¹⁵ 

119:77 May I experience your compassion, ¹⁶  so I might live!

For I find delight in your law.

119:78 May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! ¹⁷ 

But I meditate on your precepts.

119:79 May your loyal followers ¹⁸  turn to me,

those who know your rules.

119:80 May I be fully committed to your statutes, ¹⁹ 

so that I might not be ashamed.

[119:65]  ¹ tn Heb “do good.”

[119:65]  ² tn Heb “according to your word.”

[119:66]  ³ tn Heb “goodness of taste.” Here “taste” refers to moral and ethical discernment.

[119:66]  ⁴ tn Heb “for I believe in your commands.”

[119:67]  ⁵ tn Heb “before I suffered, I was straying off.”

[119:67]  ⁶ tn Heb “your word.”

[119:69]  ⁷ tn Heb “smear over me a lie.”

[119:70]  ⁸ tn Heb “their heart is insensitive like fat.”

[119:72]  ⁹ tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”

[119:73]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “made me and established me.” The two verbs also appear together in Deut 32:6, where God, compared to a father, is said to have “made and established” Israel.

[119:73]  ¹¹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:74]  ¹² tn Heb “those who fear you will see me and rejoice.”

[119:75]  ¹³ tn In this context (note the second line) the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim), which so often refers to the regulations of God’s law elsewhere in this psalm, may refer instead to his decisions or disciplinary judgment.

[119:75]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and [in] faithfulness you afflicted me.”

[119:76]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “according to your word to your servant.”

[119:77]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and may your compassion come to me.”

[119:78]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for [with] falsehood they have denied me justice.”

[119:79]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “those who fear you.”

[119:80]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “may my heart be complete in your statutes.”