Psalm 119:142

Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(142) Thy . . .—Better, Thy righteousness is right for ever, and Thy law is truth.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 119:142-144. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness — Constant and unchangeable, the same in all ages and places, and to all persons; of eternal truth and justice never to be dispensed with, nor to be made void. And thy law is truth — Nothing but truth, or as true as truth itself. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me — Outward trouble and anguish of spirit; or great anguish and distress. Yet thy commandments are my delights — My trouble and anguish do not take away my taste for the comforts of thy word: but I can still relish them, and find that peace and pleasure in them, which all the calamities of this present life cannot deprive me of. Indeed, the saints have frequently the sweetest enjoyment of the delights which there are in God’s word, when they are in a state of trouble and distress. Give me understanding, and I shall live — I shall be kept from those sins which bring spiritual death, and expose to eternal death: I shall live a life of grace here, and glory hereafter.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:137-144 God never did, and never can do wrong to any. The promises are faithfully performed by Him that made them. Zeal against sin should constrain us to do what we can against it, at least to do more in religion ourselves. Our love to the word of God is evidence of our love to God, because it is designed to make us partake his holiness. Men's real excellency always makes them low in their own eyes. When we are small and despised, we have the more need to remember God's precepts, that we may have them to support us. The law of God is the truth, the standard of holiness, the rule of happiness; but the obedience of Christ alone justifies the believer. Sorrows are often the lot of saints in this vale of tears; they are in heaviness through manifold temptations. There are delights in the word of God, which the saints often most sweetly enjoy when in trouble and anguish. This is life eternal, to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, Joh 17:3. May we live the life of faith and grace here, and be removed to the life of glory hereafter.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness - It never changes. The principles of thy law, of thy government, and of thy method of saving people, are the same under all dispensations, in every land, in all worlds; and they will remain the same forever. Human governments change. Old dynasties pass away. New laws are enacted under new administrations. Customs change. Opinions change. People change. The world changes. But as God himself never changes, so it is with his law. That law is founded on eternal truth, and can never change.

And thy law is the truth - It is founded on "truth;" on the reality of things. It is so essentially founded on truth, it springs so certainly out of truth, or out of the reality of things, that it may be said to be the truth itself. He who understands the law of God understands what truth is, for it is the expression and the exponent of that which is true.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

142-144. The principles of God's government are permanent and reliable, and in the deepest distress His people find them a theme of delightful meditation and a source of reviving power (Ps 119:17, 116).

law is the truth—It therefore cannot deceive as to its promises.

everlasting—(Ps 111:3), though to outward appearance seeming dead.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 142. An everlasting righteousness; constant and unchangeable, the same in all ages and places, and to all persons, of eternal truth and justice, never to be dispensed with, nor to be made void.

The truth; nothing but truth; or as true as truth itself.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,.... Or, "is for ever" (z). The rectitude of his nature, his faithfulness in his promises, and his kindness and beneficence to his people; and particularly the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel; the righteousness of his Son, which he approves and accepts of, and imputes to him that believes. This is a righteousness that will last for ever, will never be abolished; it will answer for them that have it in a time to come; it is of use throughout the whole of life, at death, in the day of judgment, and to all eternity; see Daniel 9:24;

and thy law is the truth; or "thy doctrine"; or "thy word", as the Arabic version. The Scriptures are called the Scriptures of truth, Daniel 10:21 they come from the God of truth, and all that is contained in them is truth; the legal part of them is truth, and so is the Gospel; that is called the word of truth, and truth itself: it is concerning Christ, who is the truth; and it is directed into and made effectual by the Spirit of truth, and contains in it many excellent truths; and is therefore deservedly valued and esteemed by all good men; see John 17:17.

(z) "in seculum", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus; "in aeternum", V. L. Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

142. is the truth] Is truth. Cp. Psalm 119:151; Psalm 119:160; Psalm 19:9; John 17:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 142. - Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. With God there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:27). His righteousness (צדקה) is pure abstract right (צדק), one and the same always - not shifting, like human ideas of justice. And thy Law is the truth. An embodiment of that immutable morality which rests upon a basis of absolute eternal truth. Psalm 119:142

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Tsade. God rules righteously and faithfully according to His word, for which the poet is accordingly zealous, although young and despised. The predicate ישׂר in Psalm 119:137 precedes its subject משׁפּטיך (God's decisions in word and in deed) in the primary form (after the model of the verbal clause Psalm 124:5), just as in German [and English] the predicative adjective remains undeclined. The accusatives צדק and אמוּנה in Psalm 119:138 are not predicative (Hitzig), to which the former ("as righteousness") - not the latter however - is not suited, but adverbial accusatives (in righteousness, in faithfulness), and מאד according to its position is subordinate to ואמונה as a virtual adjective (cf. Isaiah 47:9): the requirements of the revealed law proceed from a disposition towards and mode of dealing with men which is strictly determined by His holiness (צדק), and beyond measure faithfully and honestly designs the well-being of men (אמונה מאד). To see this good law of God despised by his persecutors stirs the poet up with a zeal, which brings him, from their side, to the brink of extreme destruction (Psalm 69:10, cf. צמתּת, Psalm 88:17). God's own utterance is indeed without spot, and therefore not to be carped at; it is pure, fire-proved, noblest metal (Psalm 18:31; Psalm 12:7), therefore he loves it, and does not, though young (lxx νεώτερος, Vulgate adolescentulus) and lightly esteemed, care for the remonstrances of his proud opponents who are old and more learned than himself (the organization of Psalm 119:141 is like Psalm 119:95, and frequently). The righteousness (צדקה) of the God of revelation becomes eternal righteousness (צדק), and His law remains eternal truth (אמת). צדקה is here the name of the attribute and of the action that is conditioned in accordance with it; צדק the name of the state that thoroughly accords with the idea of that which is right. So too in Psalm 119:144 : צדק are Jahve's testimonies for ever, so that all creatures must give glory to their harmony with that which is absolutely right. To look ever deeper and deeper into this their perfection is the growing life of the spirit. The poet prays for this vivifying insight.