Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me.
- KJV Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
- NKJV You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me.
- NASB Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine.
- NLT Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are my constant guide.
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's commandments make him wiser than his enemies, because the word is always with him. Heavenly wisdom outmatches worldly cunning.
Overview
The psalmist credits God's commandments, ever present in his heart, with giving him wisdom surpassing that of his foes. True wisdom comes not from native intelligence but from constant communion with God's word. This wisdom from above, foolish to the world, is supremely found in Christ, the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24, 30; James 3:17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 2:6For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
- Ps 119:104–105I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.
- Col 3:16Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
- Jas 1:25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
- Ps 119:11I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
- Deut 4:6Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
- Ps 119:30I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
- Deut 4:8And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
- 1 Sam 18:14and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.
- 1 Sam 18:30Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.
- 1 Sam 18:5So David marched out and prospered in everything Saul sent him to do, and Saul set him over the men of war. And this was pleasing in the sight of all the people, and of Saul’s officers as well.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 119:98 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
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