Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh is my portion. I promised to obey your words.
- BSB The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.
- NKJV You are my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep Your words.
- NASB ¶The Lord is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.
- NLT Lord, you are mine! I promise to obey your words!
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 declares the LORD to be his portion and promises to keep His words. It matters because finding our all in God leads to wholehearted obedience.
Overview
Opening the Cheth stanza, the psalmist confesses that God Himself is his inheritance and pledges obedience to His words. With God as his portion, no earthly possession can rival Him. This echoes the Levites' inheritance in the LORD and points to Christ, in whom believers possess every spiritual blessing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Lam 3:24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
- Ps 16:5The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
- Ps 142:5I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
- Jer 10:16The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
- Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
- Ps 119:115Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.
- Josh 24:24–27And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.
- Josh 24:21And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
- Josh 24:15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
- Josh 24:18And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God.
- Ps 119:106I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
- Ps 66:14Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
- Deut 26:17–18Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
- Neh 10:29–39They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 119:57 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.