Psalm 119:160

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(160) Beginning.—Heb., head; but here, as in Psalm 139:17, it might be rendered sum. (Comp. Proverbs 1:7.) The translation “from the beginning,” of the Authorised Version must at all events be abandoned.

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

Thy word is true from the beginning - literally, "The head of thy word is truth." Probably the meaning is, that the "principles" of God's word were truth, or were based on truth. The main thing - that on which all relied - was truth, absolute truth. It was not "made" truth by the mere will of God, but it was "founded on" essential truth. Compare Psalm 119:142, note; Psalm 119:144, note. Margin, "The beginning of thy word is true." Its origin is truth; its foundation is truth; its essential nature is truth. See Psalm 19:9.

And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever - Since any one of thy laws is as certainly founded in truth as any other, it must be that all alike are eternal and unchanging. It must be so with all the essential principles of morality. Mere regulations in regard to rites and ceremonies may be altered, as local and municipal laws among men may be; but essential principles of justice cannot be. A civil corporation - the government of a city or borough - may change its regulations about streets, and culverts, and taxes; but they can never enact laws authorizing murder or theft; nor can they alter the essential nature of honesty and dishonesty; of truth and falsehood.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

160. God has been ever faithful, and the principles of His government will ever continue worthy of confidence.

from the beginning—that is, "every word from Genesis (called so by the Jews from its first words, 'In the beginning') to the end of the Scriptures is true." Hengstenberg translates more literally, "The sum of thy words is truth." The sense is substantially the same. The whole body of revelation is truth. "Thy Word is nothing but truth" [Luther].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 160. From the beginning; either from the beginning of the world, or ever since thou hast revealed thy mind by thy word to the sons of men; all thy words have been found to be true and certain, and so they will be to the end of the world, as is implied in the next clause. Or, as it is in the margin, the beginning (or, as others render it, the sum, as this very word is used, Exodus 30:12 Numbers 26:2 31:26, to wit, the whole of it, there is not the least part of it which is not so) of thy word is true.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thy word is true from the beginning,.... Every word of promise God made from the beginning of the world, and in any period of time; as to Adam, to Abraham, to the Israelites, or to any other person or persons; was true in itself, and faithfully performed, not one ever failed; particularly the promise concerning the Messiah, made to Adam in Eden; and which has been spoken of by all the prophets which have been since the world began, Genesis 3:15. Or it maybe rendered, as the Targum,

"the beginning of thy word is truth (h):''

which a man finds to be so as soon as ever he enters upon the reading of it. Some refer this to the first chapter of Genesis; others to the first part of the decalogue, concerning the unity of God and his worship; so Aben Ezra, and R. Jeshua, as cited by him, and Jarchi; the same is mentioned by Kimchi as one of the senses, though the first he gives is agreeable to our version: but there is no need to restrain the sense to those particulars, or to the first part of the Scriptures, since the whole is truth; and the meaning may be, "the sum of thy word is truth" (i): so the word here used is sometimes taken for the sum of anything, Numbers 26:2; all that is contained in the word of God is truth; its promises, precepts and doctrines, histories, prophecies and proverbs, all the sayings of it are faithful and true;

and everyone of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever; every precept of the word, and doctrine of it; see Psalm 119:152.

(h) "principium verbi tui veritas", Pagninus, Musculus; "vel verborum tuorum", V. L. (i) "Summa verbi tui est veritas", Cocceius, Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

Thy word is true from the {e} beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

(e) Since you first promised it, even to the end all your sayings are true.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

160. The sum of thy word is truth, or perhaps, as LXX, Jer., of thy words. If he reckons up all God’s words of command or promise, their sum total is truth. Cp. John 14:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 160. - Thy Word is true from the beginning; rather, the sum of thy Word is truth. (So Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne, and the Revised Version.) "After examining the Divine Word, and estimating the value of its several parts, the psalmist found that the final sum was 'truth - pure, absolute truth" (Kay). And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. An emphatic repetition of the statement made in ver. 144. Psalm 119:160

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.