the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
Click here to join the effort!
Read the Bible
World English Bible
Psalms 119:96
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalDevotionals:
- EveryParallel Translations
Even perfection has its limits, but your commands have no limit.
I have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
I have seen an end of all perfection; [But] your commandment is exceeding broad.
Everything I see has its limits, but your commands have none.
I realize that everything has its limits, but your commands are beyond full comprehension.
I have seen an end of all perfection: [but] thy commandment [is] exceeding broad.
I have seen that all [human] perfection has its limits [no matter how grand and perfect and noble]; Your commandment is exceedingly broad and extends without limits [into eternity].
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
I siy the ende of al ende; thi comaundement is ful large.
I have seen an end to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit.
Nothing is completely perfect, except your teachings.
I have seen an end of all perfection; But thy commandment is exceeding broad.
I have seen that nothing on earth is complete; but your teaching is very wide.
I see the limits of all perfection, but your mitzvah has no bounds.
I have seen an end of all perfection: thy commandment is exceeding broad.
Everything has its limits, except your commands.
I have seen an end to every purpose; but Thy commandment is exceeding broad.
I haue seene an end of all perfection: but thy commandement is exceeding broad.
I have seen that all things have an end, even if they are perfect, but Your Word is without end.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
I haue seene an ende of all perfection: but thy commandement is exceeding large.
I have seen the futility of all things; but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
I have learned that everything has limits; but your commandment is perfect.
To all perfection, have I seen an end, Broad is thy commandment, exceedingly.
(118-96) I have seen an end of all perfection: thy commandment is exceeding broad.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but thy commandment is exceedingly broad.
I see an ende of euery thing be it neuer so perfect: but thy commaundement is exceedyng large.
have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is very broad.
I have seen a limit to all perfection,but your command is without limit.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, But your commands are boundless.
I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
I have seen a limit to every perfection; your command is very broad.
I have seen an end to all perfection; Your command is exceedingly broad.
Of all perfection I have seen an end, Broad [is] Thy command -- exceedingly!
I se that all thinges come to an ende, but thy commaundemet is exceadinge brode.
I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
I have seen the consummation of all perfection, But Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
I have seen a limit to all perfection;Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
I have seen: That is, I have seen that all human wisdom or knowledge, however extensive, noble, and excellent, has it bounds, and limits, and end; but Thy law, a transcript of Thine own mind, is infinite, and extends to eternity. Psalms 39:5, Psalms 39:6, 1 Samuel 9:2, 1 Samuel 17:8, 1 Samuel 17:49-51, 1 Samuel 31:4, 1 Samuel 31:5, 2 Samuel 14:25, 2 Samuel 16:23, 2 Samuel 17:23, 2 Samuel 18:14, 2 Samuel 18:17, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Ecclesiastes 12:8, Matthew 5:18, Matthew 24:35
but thy: Psalms 19:7, Psalms 19:8, Matthew 5:28, Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:29-34, Romans 7:7-12, Romans 7:14, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 4:13
Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 4:8 - General Ezra 7:10 - the law Psalms 119:18 - wondrous Acts 15:39 - the contention 1 Timothy 1:8 - the law James 1:25 - the perfect
Gill's Notes on the Bible
gVer. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection,.... An end, limit, or border, to every country, as the Syriac version; as there is to every kingdom and state, and to the whole world; but none to the commandment of God: or an end of all created beings, the finished works of God, the most perfect in their kind. Manythings had already fallen under the observation of the psalmist: he had seen men of the greatest strength, and of the most consummate wisdom, and that had attained to the highest degree of power and authority, of wealth and riches, and yet were all come to nothing; he had seen some of the most flourishing states and kingdoms brought to desolation; he had seen an entire end of them: he saw by the Spirit of God, and by the word of God, and faith in it, that all things would have an end, the heavens and earth, and all that is therein; for so it may be rendered, "I see an end of all perfection" b; or that the most perfect things will have an end, and that the end of them is at hand; see 1 Peter 4:7. Moreover, he had looked over the wisdom of this world, and the princes of it, which comes to nought; he had considered the several political schemes of government, the wisest digest and system of laws, made by the wisest lawgivers among men, and found them all to be limited, short and shallow, in comparison of the word of God, as follows: the Targum is,
"I have seen an end of all that I have studied in and looked into.''
[but] thy commandment [is] exceeding broad; the word of God is a large field to walk and meditate in; it is sufficient to instruct all men in all ages, both with respect to doctrine and duty, and to make every man of God perfect; it has such a height and depth of doctrine and mysteries in it as can never be fully reached and fathomed, and such a breadth as is not to be measured: the fulness of the Scripture can never be exhausted; the promises of it reach to this life, and that which is to come; and the precepts of it are so large, that no works of righteousness done by men are adequate and proportionate to them; no righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, is as large and as broad as those commandments; wherefore no perfection of righteousness is to be found in men, only in Christ; who is the perfect fulfilling end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, Romans 10:4.
b ראיתי Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
I have seen an end of all perfection - The word which is here rendered “perfection” - תכלה tiklâh - occurs only in this place; but a similar word from the same root - תכלית taklı̂yth - occurs in the following places: in Nehemiah 3:21, and Job 26:10, rendered “end;” in Job 11:7; Job 28:3, rendered “perfection;” and in Psalms 139:22, rendered “perfect.” It means properly “completion, perfection;” or, as others suppose, “hope, confidence.” It is rendered, in the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, “consummation.” Luther renders it, “of all things.” It is proper here to apply it to character; to perfect virtue, or to claims to perfect virtue - either in one’s-self or in others. The word rendered “end” here refers not to the fact of its existence, or to its duration, but to a limit or boundary as to its extent. To all claims to perfection made by man, he had seen an end or limit. He had examined all which claimed to be perfect; he had found it defective; he had so surveyed and examined the matter, as to be able to say that there could be no claim to perfection which would prove good. All claim to perfection on the part of man must be abandoned forever.
But thy commandment is exceeding broad - The word but is not in the original, and enfeebles the sense. The idea is, that the law of God, as he now saw it, was of such a nature - was so “broad” - as to demonstrate that there could be no just claim to perfection among people. All claims to perfection had arisen from the fact that the law was not properly understood, that its true nature was not seen. People thought that they were perfect, but it was because they had no just view of the extent and the spirituality of the law of God. They set up an imperfect standard; and when they became conformed to that standard, as they might do, they imagined themselves to be perfect; but when their conduct was compared with a higher and more just standard - the law of God - it could not but be seen that they were imperfect people. That law had claims which they had not met, and never would meet, in this life. It is very easy to flatter ourselves that we are perfect, if we make our own standard of character; it is not possible for man to set up a claim to perfection, if he measures himself by the standard of God’s word; and all the claims of people to perfection are made simply because they do not properly understand what the law of God requires. Compare the notes at Job 9:20.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 119:96. I have seen an end of all perfection — Literally, "Of all consummations I have seen the end:" as if one should say, Every thing of human origin has its limits and end, howsoever extensive, noble, and excellent. All arts and sciences, languages, inventions, have their respective principles, have their limits and ends; as they came from man and relate to man, they shall end with man: but thy law, thy revelation, which is a picture of thy own mind, an external manifestation of thy own perfections, conceived in thy infinite ideas, in reference to eternal objects, is exceeding broad; transcends the limits of creation; and extends illimitably into eternity! This has been explained as if it meant: All the real or pretended perfection that men can arrive at in this life is nothing when compared with what the law of God requires. This saying is false in itself, and is no meaning of the text. Whatever God requires of man he can, by his grace, work in man.
ANALYSIS OF LETTER LAMED. - Twelfth Division
This section contains an encomium of the WORD of GOD; of its perfection and immutability; and of the comfort the psalmist received from it.
I. In the three first verses the psalmist shows that God's word is immutable, by an instance in the creatures.
1. In the HEAVENS. They continue to this day as he made them in the beginning.
2. In the EARTH. As it was established in the beginning, so it abideth.
3. So also of the other heavenly bodies. They also abide as they were created; and answer still, most exactly, the ends for which they were made.
4. The reason of which is, "All are God's servants," made to obey his will: and from obedience they never swerve.
II. He shows the excellence of this word by a rare effect it had on himself: "Unless thy law had been my delight, I should have perished." No such comfort in trouble as God's word and promise. This he remembers with gratitude.
1. "I will never forget thy precepts." Only those forget them who reap no good from them.
2. This word had quickened him, i.e., God speaking and working by that word.
3. He will therefore be the Lord's servant for ever: "I am thine."
4. He knows he cannot continue so, but by Divine help: "Save me!"
5. He shows his love to God's word: "He seeks his precepts," that he may obey them.
III. He needed the help of God, because he had inveterate enemies. These he describes:
1. By their diligence: "The wicked have waited for me."
2. By their cruelty: "They waited to destroy me."
3. His defence against them. I will consider אתבנן ethbonen, I will set myself to consider. I will use all proper means to enable me to understand them.
IV. Having shown the perfection of God's word, -
1. In establishing and upholding the frame of the world.
2. In bringing comfort to the soul. In the close,
3. He compares it to all other things which we esteem as excellent and perfect, - riches, honours, crowns, sceptres, kingdoms, c., over which the word of God has still the pre-eminence they perish, but it endures for ever: "I have seen an end of all perfection." Jonah's gourd was smitten by a worm; the golden head had feet of clay; the most beautiful form shall dissolve into dust; Babylon, the wonder of the world, has perished from the face of the earth; the fairest day is succeeded by midnight; and so of other things: "but the commandment is exceeding broad:" all the principles of justice are contained in it; no just notion of God without it; all the rules of a holy life, and all the promises of life eternal, are found in it. It is the word of God, and it endureth for ever. When the heavens and the earth are no more, this word shall stand up and flourish.
