Psalms 119:71

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.

World English Bible
Learn

Your notes

Private to you. Anything you write on this verse, here or while reading, shows up here and in My study.

Other translations

WEBBE

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.

BSB

It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

KJV

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

ASV

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I may learn thy statutes.

BBE

It is good for me to have been through trouble; so that I might come to the knowledge of your rules.

Original Hebrew

Look up a word

Tap a word to see what it means and everywhere else it's used.

The early church

"It is good for me that You have humbled me: that I might learn Your righteousnesses" [Psalm 119:71]. He has said something kindred to this above. For by the fruit itself he shows that it was a good thing for him to be humbled; but in the former passage he has stated the cause also, in that he had felt beforehand that humiliation which resulted from his punishment, when he went wrong. But in these words, "Wherefore have I kept Your word:" and again in these, "That I might learn Your righteousnesses:" he seems to me to have signified, that to know these is the same thing as to keep them, to keep them the same thing as to know them. For Christ knew what He reproved; and yet He reproved sin, though it is said of Him that "He knew not sin." [2 Corinthians 5:21] He knew therefore by a kind of knowledge, and again He knew not by a kind of ignorance. Thus also many learn the righteousnesses of God, and learn them not. For they know them in a certain way; and, again do not know them from a kind of ignorance, since they do them not. In this sense the Psalmist therefore is to be understood to have said, "That I might learn Your righteousnesses," meaning that kind of knowledge whereby they are performed.
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 65–72

However God has dealt with us, he has dealt with us better than we deserve; and all in love, and for our good. Many have knowledge, but little judgment; those who have both, are fortified against the snares of Satan, and furnished for the service of God. We are most apt to wander from God, when we are easy in the world. We should leave our concerns to the disposal of God, seeing we know not what is good for us. Lord, thou art our bountiful Benefactor; incline our hearts to faith and obedience. The psalmist will go on in his duty with constancy and resolution. The proud are full of the world, and its wealth and pleasures; these make them senseless, secure, and stupid. God visits his people with affliction, that they may learn his statutes. Not only God's promises, but even his law, his percepts, though hard to ungodly men, are desirable, and profitable, because they lead us with safety and delight unto eternal life.

Read Matthew Henry on Psalm 119 →

Cross-references

5

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.