God’s Word Translation
Psalms 119:20
20My soul is overwhelmed with endless longing for your regulations.
Psalms 119:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
- New International Version (NIV)My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.
- English Standard Version (ESV)My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
- New King James Version (NKJV)My soul breaks with longing For Your judgments at all times.
Context of Psalms 119:20
18Uncover my eyes so that I may see the miraculous things in your teachings. 19I am a foreigner in this world. Do not hide your commandments from me. My soul is overwhelmed with endless longing for your regulations. 21You threaten arrogant people, who are condemned and wander away from your commandments. 22Remove the insults and contempt that have fallen on me because I have obeyed your written instructions.
Read all of Psalms 119Psalms 119:20 word by word
גָּרְסָ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֣י לְתַאֲבָ֑ה אֶֽל־מִשְׁפָּטֶ֥יךָ בְכָל־עֵֽת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 119:20
- Psalms 119:40I long for your guiding principles. Give me a new life in your righteousness.
- Psalms 42:1As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
- Psalms 63:1O God, you are my God. At dawn I search for you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you in a dry, parched land where there is no water.
- Psalms 84:2My soul longs and yearns for the Lord’s courtyards. My whole body shouts for joy to the living God.
- Proverbs 13:12Delayed hope makes one sick at heart, but a fulfilled longing is a tree of life.
- Revelation 3:15I know what you have done, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.
- Psalms 106:3Blessed are those who defend justice and do what is right at all times.
- Job 23:11I have followed his footsteps closely. I have stayed on his path and did not turn from it.
- Job 27:10Can he be happy with the Almighty? Can he call on God at all times?
- Proverbs 17:17A friend always loves, and a brother is born to share trouble.
Commentaries on Psalms 119:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20My soul breaketh - We have a similar expression: It broke my heart, That is heart-breaking, She died of a broken heart. It expresses excessive longing, grievous disappointment, hopeless love, accumulated sorrow. By this we may see the hungering and thirsting which the psalmist had after righteousness, often mingled with much despondency.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20My soul breaketh - This word means to break; to crush; to break in pieces by scraping, rubbing, or grating. The idea would seem to be, not that he was crushed as by a single blow, but that his soul - his strength - was worn away by little and little. The desire to know more of the commands of God acted continually on him, exhausting his strength, and overcoming him. He so longed for God that, in our language, “it wore upon him” - as any ungratified desire…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-24Verses 17-24 If God deals in strict justice with us, we all perish. We ought to spend our lives in his service; we shall find true life in keeping his word. Those that would see the wondrous things of God's law and gospel, must beg him to give them understanding, by the light of his Spirit. Believers feel themselves strangers on earth; they fear missing their way, and losing comfort by erring from God's commandments. Every sanctified soul hungers after…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20-21The arrogant are probably those who mock the psalmist (Psalm 119:22–23).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 17-2017-20. Life is desirable in order to serve God; that we may do so aright, we should seek to have our eyes opened to behold His truth, and earnestly desire fully to understand it.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 119:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 119
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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