My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
- BSB My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.
- NKJV My soul breaks with longing For Your judgments at all times.
- NASB My soul is crushed with longing For Your ordinances at all times.
- NLT I am always overwhelmed with a desire for your regulations.
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
The psalmist's soul is consumed with constant longing for God's ordinances. It matters because deep, persistent desire for God's word marks a heart truly devoted to Him.
Overview
Such intense, breaking longing for God's judgments shows that Scripture is the psalmist's continual craving. His desire is not occasional but always present. This hunger and thirst for righteousness is the very longing Jesus pronounces blessed and promises to satisfy in the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 42:1–2As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
- Ps 84:2My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
- Ps 63:1O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
- Job 23:11–12My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
- Ps 119:131I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
- Ps 119:174I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.
- Ps 119:40Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
- Job 27:10Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
- Prov 17:17A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
- Rev 3:15–16I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
- Ps 106:3Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
- Song 5:8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
- Prov 13:12Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
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 119:20 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.