I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
Parallel translations
- KJV I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
- BSB I discern more than the elders, for I obey Your precepts.
- NKJV I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts.
- NASB I understand more than those who are old, Because I have complied with Your precepts.
- NLT I am even wiser than my elders, for I have kept your commandments.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He understands more than the aged, because he keeps God's precepts. Obedience, not years, is the path to true understanding.
Overview
The psalmist notes that his understanding exceeds that of the elders, attributing it to keeping God's precepts. Wisdom is bound up with obedience, for those who do God's will come to know His truth more deeply. Jesus taught this same principle: whoever desires to do God's will shall know the truth of His teaching (John 7:17; Ps. 111:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 111:10The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
- Jas 3:13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
- Job 12:12With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
- Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”
- Job 15:9–10What do you know, that we don’t know? What do you understand, which is not in us?
- Jer 8:8–9“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?” But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.
- 1 Kgs 12:6–15King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me to answer these people?”
- Matt 7:24“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.
- Job 32:4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were elder than he.
- Job 32:7–10I said, ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 119:100 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.