I remember your ordinances of old, Yahweh, and have comforted myself.
Parallel translations
- KJV I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.
- BSB I remember Your judgments of old, O LORD, and in them I find comfort.
- NKJV I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord, And have comforted myself.
- NASB I have remembered Your judgments from of old, Lord, And comfort myself.
- NLT I meditate on your age-old regulations; O Lord, they comfort me.
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 remembers God's ancient judgments and finds comfort in them. It matters because recalling God's long-proven faithfulness brings strength in the present.
Overview
By remembering God's ordinances from of old, the psalmist comforts himself in distress. The enduring, time-tested character of God's word steadies his soul. This grounding in God's unchanging faithfulness anticipates the gospel assurance that the God who acted of old has acted decisively for us in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 103:18to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.
- Ps 77:11–12I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old.
- Ps 105:5Remember his marvelous works that he has done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,
- 2 Pet 2:4–9For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
- Deut 1:35–36“Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers,
- Deut 4:3–4Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you.
- Ps 77:5I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
- Num 16:3–35They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and Yahweh is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above Yahweh’s assembly?”
- Exod 14:29–30But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Ps 143:5I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
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 119:52 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
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