My soul is continually in my hand, yet I won’t forget your law.
Parallel translations
- KJV My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.
- BSB I constantly take my life in my hands, yet I do not forget Your law.
- NKJV My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law.
- NASB My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your Law.
- NLT My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions.
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
Though his life is constantly in danger, he will not forget God's law. Mortal peril does not loosen his grip on the word.
Overview
The phrase 'my soul is continually in my hand' pictures life held in perpetual jeopardy. Yet even under constant threat the psalmist refuses to forget God's law, showing that danger cannot shake his loyalty to the word. This steadfastness amid risk reflects the faith that values God's truth above life itself, as Christ taught His followers to do (Matt. 16:25; Acts 20:24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Judg 12:3When I saw that you didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?”
- 1 Cor 15:31I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
- Job 13:14Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?
- Ps 119:83For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke. I don’t forget your statutes.
- 2 Cor 11:23Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
- Rom 8:36Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
- Ps 119:152Of old I have known from your testimonies, that you have founded them forever. RESH
- Ps 119:117Hold me up, and I will be safe, and will have respect for your statutes continually.
- 1 Sam 19:5for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
- 1 Sam 20:3David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:’ but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
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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 119:109 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.