TSADDE
137 Righteous are You, O Lord,
And upright are Your judgments.
138 Your testimonies, which You have commanded,
Are righteous and very faithful.
139 My zeal has consumed me,
Because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140 Your word is very pure;
Therefore Your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised,
Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
Yet Your commandments are my delights.
144 The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting;
Give me understanding, and I shall live.
In this stanza, the psalmist had a lot to say about God’s attributes as reflected in His Word.
zeal (v.139) = ardor, jealousy, anger
consumed (v.139) = lit. exterminated, put an end to (hyperbolic)
small (v.141) = insignificant
When the vicissitudes of life dull the shine of other sources of pleasure and delight, the value and appeal of God’s Word become greater, overtaking and sublimating the totality of our yearnings in this life. Hence, in the course of his trouble and anguish (v.143), it is for God’s word, above all else, that the psalmist has longed. — Wechsler, page 287.
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The Messiah in these verses sets out in order the excellencies of God’s Word as righteous (v.137), pure (v.140), true (v.142), and everlasting (v.144). …
The righteousness of the Divine Essence and the righteousness of His testimonies, commandments, precepts, and statues is one and the self-same righteousness (vs. 137 and 144); as a consequence the statements and doctrines of the Bible are dependable and free from error (v.138). — Williams, page 397
