I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.
Parallel translations
- WEB I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me.
- KJV I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
- NKJV I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.
- NASB I am a stranger on the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.
- NLT I am only a foreigner in the land. Don’t hide your commands from 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
Conscious of being a sojourner on earth, the psalmist begs that God not hide His commandments from him. It matters because life's brevity and pilgrimage drive the believer to depend on God's guiding word.
Overview
The psalmist describes himself as a stranger passing through the earth, needing God's commandments as his guide. His sense of transience intensifies his hunger for direction. This pilgrim identity is shared by all believers, who, like Abraham, look for a lasting city and walk by God's word toward their home in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Chr 29:15For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Ps 39:12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.
- Heb 11:13–16All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
- Ps 119:10With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.
- Luke 24:45Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
- 1 Pet 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- 2 Cor 5:6Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.
- Isa 63:17Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
- Gen 47:9“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
- Luke 9:45But they did not understand this statement. It was veiled from them so that they could not comprehend it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
- Job 39:17For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 119:19 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.