Psalms 119:65–72, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 119:65–72
Twenty-two alphabetic stanzas delight in Torah: Teth stanza
Teth confesses that God has dealt well, including through affliction
Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
Dealt well is the heading over a stanza that will mention affliction. Good judgment is taught, not assumed. The speaker's own story is specific: stray first, affliction second, keeping afterward. That sequence is testimony, not a law for every pain.
Proud lies, learned good, and a law priced above metal
Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
God's goodness and the proud's forged lie stand on the same page. Fat as grease is a heart that will not feel. It is good for me that I have been afflicted belongs to this learner; it must not be preached as a reason to withhold help or to tell a sufferer to be grateful for harm. The comparison with gold is the stanza's real wealth claim.
How this should shape us
Tell the truth if affliction taught you after you went astray, without making that sequence a theory you impose on others. Keep the precepts while lies are forged. Prize the law above metal, and do not call a greasy heart's comfort 'dealt well.'
Teach it back
Explain Psalms 119:65–72 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 119 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: Torah devotion includes lament, persecution, and dependence; it is not legalistic self-salvation, a promise of ease, or permission to impose coercive rule-keeping.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 119:65–72, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 119:65–72
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 119:65–72.
Official NET Bible Psalm 119 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 119:65–72
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres, parallelism, and forms; Theological Themes: Torah and human response; applied to Psalms 119:65–72
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 119 for Psalms 119:65–72
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 119:65–72, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 119:65–72
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 119:65–72.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 119 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 119:65–72
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres, parallelism, and forms; Theological Themes: Torah and human response; applied to Psalms 119:65–72
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 119 for Psalms 119:65–72
Open NETS Psalms ↗