Psalm 119:154

Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:153-160 The closer we cleave to the word of God, both as our rule and as our stay, the more assurance we have of deliverance. Christ is the Advocate of his people, their Redeemer. Those who were quickened by his Spirit and grace, when they were dead in trespasses and sins, often need to have the work of grace revived in them, according to the word of promise. The wicked not only do not God's statutes, but they do not even seek them. They flatter themselves that they are going to heaven; but the longer they persist in sin, the further it is from them. God's mercies are tender; they are a fountain that can never be exhausted. The psalmist begs for God's reviving, quickening grace. A man, steady in the way of his duty, though he may have many enemies, needs to fear none. Those that hate sin truly, hate it as sin, as a transgression of the law of God, and a breaking of his word. Our obedience is only pleasing to God, and pleasant to ourselves, when it comes from a principle of love. All, in every age, who receive God's word in faith and love, find every saying in it faithful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Plead my cause ... - Undertake my cause, as an advocate does. See the notes at Psalm 35:1.

Quicken me ... - Give me life. See the notes at Psalm 119:25.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

154. Plead, &c.—Hengstenberg translates, "Fight my fight." (See Ps 35:1; 43:1; Mic 7:9).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 154. No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Plead my cause, and deliver me,.... This shows that his affliction was chiefly from men, wicked, ungodly, and unreasonable men; such as were Saul and his courtiers, and a whole ungodly nation: his cause was a good one, and therefore he puts it into the hand of the Lord, and who otherwise would not have undertaken it; and this he did also because he could not plead it himself, nor any other for him but the Lord; his enemies that strove with him being so many, mighty, and crafty; see Psalm 35:1. Christ is the advocate of his people, their Redeemer, who is mighty, and thoroughly pleads their cause against the accusations of Satan, the charges of law and justice, and the condemnation of their own hearts; as well as defends their innocence from the calumnies of wicked men, and rights their wrongs, and redresses their grievances;

quicken me according to thy word; See Gill on Psalm 119:25.

Geneva Study Bible

Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy {a} word.

(a) For without God's promise there is no hope of deliverance.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

154. Plead my cause] The dispute between him and his persecutors is represented as a lawsuit: will not Jehovah be his advocate? Cp. Psalm 35:1; Psalm 43:1; Isaiah 51:22.

deliver me] Redeem me, as from bondage. Cp. Exodus 6:6; Exodus 15:13; Psalm 19:14, and the frequent description of Jehovah as Israel’s Redeemer from exile in Isaiah 40-66.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 154. - Plead my cause (comp. Psalm 35:1; Psalm 43:1; Micah 7:9). God "pleads the cause" of his servants when he takes up their quarrel, and avenges them upon their enemies. And deliver me; or, "rescue me" (Cheyne). Quicken me according to thy Word (comp. ver. 25). Psalm 119:154

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Resh. Because God cannot suffer those who are faithful to His word to succumb, he supplicates His help against his persecutors. ריבה is Milra before the initial (half-guttural) Resh, as in Psalm 43:1; Psalm 74:22. The Lamed of לאמרתך is the Lamed of reference (with respect to Thine utterance), whether the reference be normative ( equals כאמרתך, Psalm 119:58), as in Isaiah 11:3, or causal, Isaiah 25:2, Isaiah 55:5; Job 42:5. The predicate רחוק, like ישׂר in Psalm 119:137, stands first in the primary, as yet indefinite form. Concerning Psalm 119:156 vid., on Psalm 119:149. At the sight of the faithless he felt a profound disgust; ואתקוטטה, pausal aorist, supply בּהם, Psalm 139:21. It is all the same in the end whether we render אשׁר quippe qui or siquidem. ראשׁ in Psalm 119:160 signifies the head-number of sum. If he reckons up the word of God in its separate parts and as a whole, truth is the denominator of the whole, truth is the sum-total. This supplicatory חיּני is repeated three times in this group. The nearer it draws towards its end the more importunate does the Psalm become.