Limitless Word
Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.
Psalms 119:140 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.
  • BSB Your promise is completely pure; therefore Your servant loves it.
  • NKJV Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it.
  • NASB Your word is very pure, Therefore Your servant loves it.
  • NLT Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much.

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

God's promises are thoroughly tested and proven pure, so His servant loves them. The refined reliability of the word draws his love.

Overview

The psalmist describes God's word as refined and tested like purified metal, utterly trustworthy, and therefore beloved by him. The proven purity of the promises makes them precious. This tested word is the same word that abides forever and is fulfilled without fail in Christ, in whom every promise is confirmed (Ps. 12:6; 1 Pet. 1:25).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • Ps 19:8Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.
  • Prov 30:5“Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
  • Ps 12:6Yahweh’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.
  • 2 Pet 1:21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
  • Ps 119:128Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate every false way. PEY
  • Rom 7:12Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
  • Rom 7:22For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
  • Ps 18:30As for God, his way is perfect. Yahweh’s word is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
  • 1 Pet 2:2as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
  • Rom 7:16But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 119:140YouTube · 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 119:140 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.