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Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes.
Psalms 119:135 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Make your face shine on your servant. Teach me your statutes.
  • KJV Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
  • BSB Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.
  • NKJV Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes.
  • NLT Look upon me with love; teach me your decrees.

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 make His face shine on him and to teach him His statutes. He seeks God's favorable presence and instruction together.

Overview

Echoing the priestly blessing, the psalmist prays for the shining of God's face, the sign of favor and blessing, along with instruction in the statutes. He desires God's gracious presence and teaching as one gift. This blessing finds its fullness in Christ, in whose face the glory of God shines upon His people (Num. 6:25; 2 Cor. 4:6).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Num 6:25–26Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.
  • Ps 4:6Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
  • Ps 80:7Turn us again, God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
  • Ps 80:19Turn us again, Yahweh God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
  • Luke 24:45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.
  • Ps 80:3Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
  • Job 36:22Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?
  • Job 33:26He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness.
  • Ps 80:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph. Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
  • Job 35:11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
  • Ps 119:26I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.
  • Job 34:32Teach me that which I don’t see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
  • Rev 22:4–5They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
  • Ps 119:12Blessed are you, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 119:135YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 119:135 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.