I discern more than the elders, for I obey Your precepts.
Parallel translations
- WEB I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
- KJV I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy 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 the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever!
- Jas 3:13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
- Job 12:12Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
- Job 28:28And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
- Job 15:9–10What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us?
- Jer 8:8–9How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?
- 1 Kgs 12:6–15Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.
- Matt 7:24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Job 32:4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because the others were older than he.
- Job 32:7–10I thought that age should speak, and many 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.