Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
Parallel translations
- WEB Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.
- BSB Their hearts are hard and callous, but I delight in Your law.
- NKJV Their heart is as fat as grease, But I delight in Your law.
- NASB Their heart is insensitive, like fat, But I delight in Your Law.
- NLT Their hearts are dull and stupid, but I delight in your instructions.
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 hearts of the wicked are unfeeling like fat, but the psalmist delights in God's law. It matters because a heart hardened to God contrasts sharply with one that loves His word.
Overview
The psalmist contrasts the callous, insensible hearts of the wicked with his own delight in God's law. Sin dulls the heart, while love for the word keeps it tender and alive. This contrast underscores the gospel's promise of a new heart, given in Christ, that delights in God's ways.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 17:10They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
- Acts 28:27For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
- Ps 73:7Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
- Isa 6:10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
- Ps 119:16I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
- Ps 40:8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
- Rom 7:22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- Ps 119:35Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
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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 119:70 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.