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I honor and love your commands. I meditate on your decrees. Zayin
Psalms 119:48 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes. ZAYIN
  • KJV My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
  • BSB I lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love, and I meditate on Your statutes.
  • NKJV My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love, And I will meditate on Your statutes. ז Zayin
  • NASB And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes. Zayin

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 lifts his hands to God's commandments, which he loves, and meditates on His statutes. It matters because love for God's word is expressed in worshipful devotion and reflection.

Overview

Closing the Zayin stanza, the psalmist reaches out toward God's beloved commandments and meditates on His statutes. His posture conveys eager longing and reverent devotion. This wholehearted love and meditation foreshadow the believer's delight in Christ, the living Word, embraced and treasured by faith.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Ps 119:15I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.
  • Ps 1:2but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.
  • Matt 7:21Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
  • John 15:14You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
  • John 13:17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
  • Jas 1:22–25But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
  • Ezek 44:12Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity.
  • Mic 5:9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
  • Ps 10:12Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 119:48YouTube · 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 119:48 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.