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Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me in Your righteousness. ו Waw
Psalms 119:40 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness. WAW
  • KJV Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
  • BSB How I long for Your precepts! Revive me in Your righteousness.
  • NASB Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me through Your righteousness. Vav
  • NLT I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness. Waw

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 longs for God's precepts and asks to be revived in His righteousness. It matters because heartfelt desire for God's word is met by His life-giving righteousness.

Overview

Closing the Waw stanza, the psalmist expresses his deep longing for God's precepts and prays for renewal grounded in God's righteousness. His hope for life rests on God's just character. This anticipates the gospel, where God's righteousness, revealed in Christ, becomes the source of life for all who long for Him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 20

  • John 10:10The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
  • Ps 119:20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
  • Ps 119:159Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness.
  • 2 Cor 7:1Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
  • Phil 3:13–14Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
  • Ps 119:37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
  • Ps 119:25My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!
  • Matt 26:41Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
  • Gal 5:17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
  • 1 Cor 15:45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
  • Eph 2:5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
  • Ps 119:156Great are your tender mercies, Yahweh. Revive me according to your ordinances.
  • Ps 119:88Preserve my life according to your loving kindness, so I will obey the statutes of your mouth. LAMED
  • Ps 119:107I am afflicted very much. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your word.
  • Ps 119:149Hear my voice according to your loving kindness. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your ordinances.
  • Ps 119:5Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes!
  • 3 Jn 1:2Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers.
  • Rom 7:24What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
  • Mark 9:24Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
  • John 5:21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

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 119:40YouTube · 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 119:40 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.