You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees.
Parallel translations
- WEB You are good, and do good. Teach me your statutes.
- KJV Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
- BSB You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes.
- NKJV You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes.
- NASB You are good and You do good; Teach me Your statutes.
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
God is good and does good, so the psalmist asks to be taught His statutes. It matters because God's good character is the foundation for trusting and learning His word.
Overview
The psalmist confesses that God is good in His very nature and good in all His works, then prays to learn His statutes. God's goodness assures him that His commands are good as well. This supreme goodness is displayed in the gospel, where the good God gives His own Son for our salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 119:12Blessed are you, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes.
- Ps 106:1Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Exod 34:6–7Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
- Ps 86:5For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
- Matt 19:17He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
- Ps 107:1Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Matt 5:45that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
- Exod 33:18–19He said, “Please show me your glory.”
- Luke 18:19Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one — God.
- Ps 25:8–9Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
- Mark 10:18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one — God.
- Isa 63:7I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has given to us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has given to them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
- Ps 119:26I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.
- Ps 145:7–9They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness.
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 119:68 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.