Chapter 119

The first song of degrees is sung to God by the people in Babylon, mourning the length of their captivity and begging to be released. Ps.119:1. Whenever I was in sorrow, I cried out to the Lord... Ps.119:2. Lord, deliver my soul from unrighteous lips and from the flattering tongue. For was not the mouth of the Babylonians unrighteous in confessing idolatry? The tongue itself is called flattering, as not expressing anything right about God. Ps.119:3. What will be given to you, and what will be added to your flattering tongue? Ps.119:4. The arrows of the strong are sophisticated. What else do you ask to be given to you? Or, what else do you want, so that even this would be added for you, as a punishment for flattering lips? Arrows full of fire were kindled by the Mighty One. It means the execution that will soon befall the Babylonians. Ps.119:5. Woe to me, for my coming continues. Sets forth a new petition to God for liberation from the coming. He settled in the village of Kidarskiye. Kedar is a country lying near the eastern desert, and extending even to the Persians; it is inhabited by the Saracen tribe. Ps.119:6. My soul has come many times. Be at peace with those who hate the world. Such is the wickedness of the Babylonians that they will never wage war against those who live in the world. If we bear in mind the decisive punishment that God determined on the Canaanites and Amorites, forbidding them to enter into friendship with them, then these wicked ones, disdaining godliness, do not enter into an alliance with them. Ps.119:7. Whenever you speak to them, Boryahu me tune. You might be interested in: