Let me live to praise You; may Your judgments sustain me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me.
- KJV Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.
- NKJV Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; And let Your judgments help me.
- NASB Let my soul live that it may praise You, And let Your ordinances help me.
- NLT Let me live so I can praise you, and may your regulations help 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 to be kept alive so he may praise God, and for God's ordinances to help him. Life and the help of God's Word exist for praising Him.
Overview
The psalmist's plea for life has a purpose: 'that I may praise you.' He sees both his survival and the sustaining help of God's ordinances as means to worship. This God-centered view of life, lived to praise God, is the goal of redemption accomplished in Christ, who gives life that overflows in praise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 55:3Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
- Ps 51:14–15Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.
- Isa 26:8–9Yes, we wait for You, O LORD; we walk in the path of Your judgments. Your name and renown are the desire of our souls.
- Ps 118:18–19The LORD disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.
- Isa 38:19The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.
- 1 Cor 11:31–32Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.
- Rom 8:28And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Ps 30:9“What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?
- Ps 9:13–14Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,
- Ps 119:75I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
- 2 Cor 4:17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
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 119:175 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.