Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.
Parallel translations
- KJV Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
- BSB Turn away the disgrace I dread, for Your judgments are good.
- NKJV Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your judgments are good.
- NASB Take away my disgrace which I dread, For Your judgments are good.
- NLT Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.
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 asks God to remove the reproach he dreads, since God's judgments are good. It matters because trusting in the goodness of God's word brings deliverance from feared disgrace.
Overview
Fearing reproach, the psalmist appeals to the goodness of God's ordinances as the ground for being spared it. He trusts that God's good judgments will not leave him in shame. This confidence is secured in the gospel, where Christ bears our reproach so that those who trust Him are freed from condemnation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 119:22Take reproach and contempt away from me, for I have kept your statutes.
- Titus 2:8and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
- 1 Tim 3:7Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
- Rom 2:2We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
- Rev 19:2for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”
- Ps 57:3He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Selah. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.
- Ps 39:8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.
- Ps 119:43Don’t snatch the word of truth out of my mouth, for I put my hope in your ordinances.
- Ps 19:9The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever. Yahweh’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.
- Deut 4:8What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?
- Isa 26:8Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.
- Ps 119:131I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for your commandments.
- 2 Sam 12:14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”
- Ps 119:75Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
- 1 Tim 5:14I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting.
- Ps 119:20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
- Ps 119:31I cling to your statutes, Yahweh. Don’t let me be disappointed.
- Ps 119:123My eyes fail looking for your salvation, for your righteous word.
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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 119:39 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.