Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
Parallel translations
- WEB Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
- BSB If Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.
- NKJV Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.
- NASB If Your Law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my misery.
- NLT If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery.
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
If God's law had not been his delight, he would have perished in his affliction. The word was his lifeline in suffering.
Overview
The psalmist confesses that his joy in God's law was literally life-saving during his deepest trouble. Without delight in the word he would have been swallowed by despair, so the law sustained him when nothing else could. This shows the believer that God's word is the soul's sustenance in trial, the same word that lives and abides in Christ (Matt. 4:4; Ps. 19:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Rom 15:4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
- Prov 6:22–23When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
- Ps 119:143Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.
- Ps 94:18–19When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
- Ps 119:77Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.
- Ps 119:24Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
- Ps 27:13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 119:92 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.