Read
Psalm 119:136
Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law. TZADHE
134Redeem me from the oppression of man, so I will observe your precepts.
135Make your face shine on your servant. Teach me your statutes.
136Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law. TZADHE
137You are righteous, LORD. Your judgments are upright.
138You have commanded your statutes in righteousness. They are fully trustworthy.
Notice
Streams of tears make others’ disregard for God’s law a cause for lament, in a prayer that also asks God to teach the speaker.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do you notice about the speaker asking to be taught before mourning others’ disobedience?
Write on thisWhen others disregard God’s law, what response tends to come first for you?
Write on thisConnect
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
Ezekiel 9:4The LORD said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry …Ezekiel describes people mourning the abominations within Jerusalem; the psalm’s speaker also grieves over others’ disregard for God’s commands.
John 11:35Jesus wept.Both verses describe tears, though John’s brief statement does not name the cause that Psalm 119 names.
Jeremiah 9:1Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!Both passages picture abundant tears flowing from the eyes, with Jeremiah mourning his people’s slain and the psalm mourning disobedience.
Ezra 10:1Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great …Ezra’s weeping accompanies prayer and confession before God; the psalm’s tears also appear in speech addressed to God.
Acts 17:16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.Paul’s distress at Athens’s idols and the speaker’s tears over disregarded law both express troubled responses to what others do.
1 Corinthians 13:6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;The psalm’s tears over disobedience share with this verse a response to unrighteousness that has no joy in it.
1 Samuel 15:11“It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he …Saul’s failure to perform God’s commandments brings Samuel’s nightlong cry to the LORD, echoing the psalm’s grief over disobedience.
Psalm 119:53Indignation has taken hold on me, because of the wicked who forsake your law.Both verses name disregard for God’s law as the cause of distress, expressed through indignation in one and tears in the other.
Luke 19:41When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,Both passages describe weeping, though Luke’s supplied verse names a city as its object without stating the reason.
Jeremiah 14:17“You shall say this word to them: “‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with …Eyes running down with tears link these passages, though Jeremiah mourns his people’s grievous wound and the psalm mourns disobedience.
Psalm 119:158I look at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word.Both verses explain distress with the same failure to observe God’s instruction, expressed as tears here and loathing there.
Jeremiah 9:18Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters.Both passages portray eyes overflowing with tears, using flowing water to convey the abundance of grief.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. grief.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Grief over disobedience belongs in prayer. The speaker brings his tears to God while still asking to be taught; God’s judgments remain upright amid what he sees.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 119:136. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 119 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
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).