Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Ensure your servant’s well-being. Don’t let the proud oppress me.
- BSB Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
- NKJV Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the proud oppress me.
- NASB Be a guarantor for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me.
- NLT Please guarantee a blessing for me. Don’t let the arrogant oppress me!
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 asks God to guarantee his well-being and not let the proud oppress him. He seeks God as the surety who secures his safety.
Overview
The psalmist prays that God would stand as pledge for his good, ensuring he is not crushed by the arrogant. He looks to God to guarantee his welfare against oppression. This idea of a surety points beautifully to Christ, who became the guarantor of a better covenant, securing the eternal welfare of His people (Heb. 7:22; Heb. 9:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Heb 7:22By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
- Ps 119:21Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
- Isa 38:14Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
- Job 17:3Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
- Prov 22:26–27Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
- Phlm 1:18–19If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
- Ps 36:11Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
- Gen 43:9I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 119:122 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.