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Psalm 119:100
I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
98Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me.
99I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
100I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
101I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word.
102I have not turned away from your ordinances, for you have taught me.
Notice
The word “because” grounds a bold claim about surpassing the aged in understanding: the source of that understanding is keeping God's precepts.
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Where have you seen keeping God's commands teach you something that experience alone had not taught?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 111:10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!Both psalms connect good understanding with obedience to God, giving wisdom a lived expression.
James 3:13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.Keeping God's precepts and showing good conduct both connect understanding with how a person lives.
Psalm 119:104Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. NUNBoth verses name God's precepts as the source of understanding, with verse 104 adding hatred of every false way.
Proverbs 28:5Evil men don’t understand justice; but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.Both texts connect understanding with a person's response to God: keeping his precepts or seeking him.
Acts 17:11Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether …God's word guides judgment in both passages: the psalm speaks of keeping precepts, Acts of examining Scripture.
Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”Both passages link understanding with lived obedience; Job describes that response as departing from evil.
Job 15:9–10What do you know that we don’t know? What do you understand which is not in us?Both passages compare one person's understanding with another's; the psalm gives keeping God's precepts as the reason for its claim.
Job 12:12With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.Both passages associate age with understanding, though the psalm claims that keeping God's precepts can surpass the understanding of the aged.
Jeremiah 8:8–9“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and the LORD’s law is with us”? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie.Both passages connect claims of wisdom with God's instruction, while Jeremiah challenges a claim corrupted by scribes.
Job 32:4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he.Age shapes both passages: Elihu waits for older speakers, while the psalmist claims understanding beyond the aged.
1 Kings 12:6–15King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me to answer these …Both passages mention the aged: Rehoboam seeks their counsel, while the psalmist claims greater understanding through keeping God's precepts.
Matthew 7:24“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.Both passages connect wisdom with doing what has been spoken: keeping God's precepts and acting on Jesus' words.
One step
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Encouragement
You do not have to reach old age before learning wisdom through obedience. The understanding claimed here comes from keeping God's precepts.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).