Psalms 119:17

STROPHE 3

GOD'S LAW IS COUNSELOR AGAINST PLOTTING PRINCES

Gimel

"Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live;

So will I observe thy word.

Open mine eyes, that I may behold

Wondrous things out of thy law.

I am a sojourner in the earth:

Hide not thy commandments from me.

My soul breaketh for the longing

That it hath unto thine ordinances at all times.

Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed,

That do wander from thy commandments.

Take away from me reproach and contempt;

For I have kept thy testimonies.

Princes also sat and talked against me;

But thy servant did meditate on thy statutes.

Thy testimonies also are my delight

And my counselors."

"Princes sat and talked against me" (Psalms 119:23). See Psalms 119:161 for comment on this.

"These verse are the first indication in the psalm (except in Psalms 119:8b) of the psalmist's personal troubles. The insolent or the proud (RSV has `godless') in Psalms 119:21,23 are referred to again in Psalms 119:51,69,78,85,122. Apparently the reference is to irreligious Jews. The princes also were probably Hebrews, but of the nobility."[22] McCullough and others have made such deduction on the basis that there is no reference to Gentiles in the passage.