I pant with expectation, longing for your commands.
Parallel translations
- WEB I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for your commandments.
- KJV I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
- BSB I open my mouth and pant, longing for Your commandments.
- NKJV I opened my mouth and panted, For I longed for Your commandments.
- NASB I opened my mouth wide and panted, For I longed for 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 opens his mouth and pants with longing for God's commandments. He hungers intensely for the word.
Overview
The psalmist pictures himself gasping like a thirsty man, so great is his craving for God's commandments. His desire for the word is visceral and urgent. This hunger and thirst for righteousness is precisely what Christ blesses, promising that those who so hunger will be filled (Matt. 5:6; Ps. 42:1-2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 42:1For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
- Ps 119:20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
- 1 Pet 2:2as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
- Heb 12:14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- Isa 26:8–9Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.
- Ps 81:10I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
- Job 29:23They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.
- Ps 119:174I have longed for your salvation, Yahweh. Your law is my delight.
- Ps 119:162I rejoice at your word, as one who finds great plunder.
- Ps 119:40Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness. WAW
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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 119:131 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.