The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.
Parallel translations
- WEB The earth is full of your loving kindness, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes. TET
- BSB The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.
- NKJV The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; Teach me Your statutes. ט Teth
- NASB The earth is full of Your goodness, Lord; Teach me Your statutes. Teth
- NLT O Lord, your unfailing love fills the earth; teach me your decrees. Teth
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 earth is full of God's steadfast love, and the psalmist asks to be taught His statutes. It matters because God's pervasive mercy moves the believer to seek deeper knowledge of His word.
Overview
Closing the Cheth stanza, the psalmist sees the earth filled with God's covenant love and responds by asking to learn His statutes. Awareness of God's goodness fuels a hunger for His word. This grace that fills the earth finds its highest expression in the gospel, where God's love is revealed in the gift of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 33:5He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
- Matt 11:29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- Ps 119:12Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
- Ps 119:26I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
- Isa 48:17–18Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
- Ps 145:9The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
- Ps 27:11Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
- Ps 104:13He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
- Isa 2:3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
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 119:64 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.