Bible Strands
Psalms 119:109
I constantly take my life in my hands, yet I do not forget Your law.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD in the immediate aftermath of asking Him to accept his offerings and teach him judgments, positioning himself against a snare laid by the wicked.
The words — The Hebrew תָמִיד (tamid) means continually, and the phrase בְּכַפִּי (bekappi) literally translates to "in my hand," together establishing the psalmist's ongoing exposure to mortal peril.
The thread — The expression of risking one's life appears in Judges 12:3, Job 13:14, and 1 Corinthians 15:31, where speakers describe voluntarily facing death or danger without yielding to fear.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to maintain strict adherence to divine instruction while persistently confronting threats that endanger physical survival.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.
Cross-references
- Judges 12:3 When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”
- Job 13:14 Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?
- 1 Corinthians 15:31 I face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 1 Samuel 19:5 He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
- 1 Samuel 20:3 But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
- Psalms 119:83 Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
- Psalms 119:117 Uphold me, and I will be saved, that I may always regard Your statutes.
- Psalms 119:152 Long ago I learned from Your testimonies that You have established them forever.
- Romans 8:36 As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.