And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.
- KJV And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
- BSB And I will walk in freedom, for I have sought Your precepts.
- NKJV And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.
- NLT I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments.
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 walks in liberty because he seeks God's precepts. It matters because true freedom is found within, not apart from, obedience to God's word.
Overview
Far from feeling confined, the psalmist experiences a broad, free walk precisely because he pursues God's precepts. Obedience to God's word brings real liberty, not bondage. This reflects the gospel paradox that those who become servants of God in Christ are set genuinely free.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 119:133Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.
- Prov 4:12When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
- Ps 119:94I am yours. Save me, for I have sought your precepts.
- Jas 1:25But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
- John 8:30–36As he spoke these things, many believed in him.
- John 5:39“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
- 2 Pet 2:19promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
- Eph 5:17Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
- Jas 2:12So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
- Luke 4:18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed,
- Ps 119:162I rejoice at your word, as one who finds great plunder.
- Prov 18:1An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.
- Ps 119:148My eyes stay open through the night watches, that I might meditate on your word.
- Eccl 1:13I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
- Ps 119:71It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
- Ps 119:19I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me.
- Prov 2:4–5If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:
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 119:45 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.