Psalm 119:17-24

GIMEL

¹⁷ Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.

¹⁸ Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.

¹⁹ I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.

²⁰ My soul breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.

²¹ You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.

²² Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies.

²³ Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

²⁴ Your testimonies also are my delight
And my counselors.

The first four verses of this stanza express the activities of the heart toward God excited by the study of, and obedience to, His Word; and the second four, the contempt and hatred which such an obedience receives from man. …

Those who are too proud to subject their wills to the teaching of the Scriptures bring a curse and not a blessing upon themselves (v.21); and become the bitter persecutors of those that make them their delight (vs.22-24). — Williams, page 390.

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The psalmist is able to find comfort and encouragement, imploring God to take away the inevitable reproach and contempt that the ungodly direct his way when he strives to observe God’s testimonies (v.22; cf. 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Samuel 17:26; Isaiah 25:7-8. — Wechsler, page 283.