This is my practice, for I obey Your precepts.
Parallel translations
- WEB This is my way, that I keep your precepts. CHET
- KJV This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
- NKJV This has become mine, Because I kept Your precepts. ח Heth
- NASB This has become mine, That I comply with Your precepts. Heth
- NLT This is how I spend my life: obeying your commandments. Heth
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's practice has been to keep God's precepts, and this is his way of life. It matters because obedience to God's word becomes the settled pattern of a faithful life.
Overview
Closing the Cheth stanza, the psalmist reflects that keeping God's precepts has been his lot and habit. Obedience is woven into the fabric of who he is. Such a settled life of faithfulness foreshadows the gospel transformation in which believers, united to Christ, walk consistently in His ways.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Ps 119:165Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law; nothing can make them stumble.
- 1 Jn 3:19–24And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:
- Ps 18:18–22They confronted me in my day of calamity, but the LORD was my support.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 119:56 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.