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Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.
Psalms 19:9 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever. Yahweh’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.
  • KJV The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
  • BSB The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous.
  • NKJV The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
  • NASB The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

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 fear of the Lord is clean and everlasting; his judgments are true and altogether righteous. God's Word and worship are pure and enduring.

Overview

David includes 'the fear of Yahweh', reverent devotion shaped by God's Word, as itself clean and eternal, and affirms that God's ordinances are entirely just. This completes a sixfold praise of Scripture's perfections (vv. 7-9). The flawless righteousness of God's law both reveals his holy character and exposes our need for the righteousness found in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 33

  • 1 Sam 12:24Only fear Yahweh, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things he has done for you.
  • Ps 119:142Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Your law is truth.
  • Ps 119:137–138You are righteous, Yahweh. Your judgments are upright.
  • Ps 119:1ALEPH Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law.
  • Ps 34:11–14Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
  • Ps 115:13He will bless those who fear Yahweh, both small and great.
  • Ps 111:10The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
  • Rev 15:3They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
  • Rev 16:7I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”
  • 1 Kgs 18:12It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth.
  • Deut 4:8What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?
  • Ps 10:5His ways are prosperous at all times. He is haughty, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.
  • Gen 42:18Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
  • Ps 72:1–2By Solomon. God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.
  • Isa 26:8Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.
  • Exod 21:1“Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
  • Ps 119:7I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart, when I learn your righteous judgments.
  • Rom 2:2We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
  • Gen 22:12He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
  • Rev 19:2for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”
  • Ps 36:1For the Chief Musician. By David, the servant of Yahweh. An inner sanctuary is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
  • Neh 5:15But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.
  • Ps 119:106I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will obey your righteous ordinances.
  • 1 Kgs 18:3–4Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly;
  • Ps 36:6Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.
  • Rom 3:10–18As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
  • Acts 10:22They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.”
  • Ps 119:62At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you, because of your righteous ordinances.
  • Rom 11:22See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
  • Ps 119:39Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.
  • Prov 8:13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
  • Ps 147:19He shows his word to Jacob; his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
  • Ps 119:75Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 19:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 19:9 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.