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Psalm 119:139
My zeal wears me out, because my enemies ignore your words.
137You are righteous, LORD. Your judgments are upright.
138You have commanded your statutes in righteousness. They are fully trustworthy.
139My zeal wears me out, because my enemies ignore your words.
140Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.
141I am small and despised. I don’t forget your precepts.
Notice
Zeal for God’s words carries a cost here: the speaker is worn out by enemies who ignore what God has said.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do you make of zeal that wears someone out?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, have you found disregard for God’s words hard to bear?
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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
John 2:17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”Both describe zeal that consumes its bearer, though John speaks of God’s house and the psalm of God’s words.
Psalm 69:9For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.Both speakers describe consuming zeal for what belongs to God amid hostility toward him or disregard for his words.
Hosea 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have …Both name disregard for God’s instruction; the psalm describes the speaker’s exhaustion, while Hosea announces God’s judgment.
1 Kings 19:10He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed …Both speakers express zeal for God while describing people who disregard his words or forsake his covenant.
Acts 13:27For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them …Both concern a failure to heed God’s words; Acts names Jerusalem’s inhabitants and rulers as failing to recognize the prophets’ voices.
Galatians 4:18But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.Both speak of zeal: the psalm describes its exhausting cost, while Galatians commends zeal in a good cause.
Deuteronomy 26:13You shall say before the LORD your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the …God’s commands are central to both, though Deuteronomy records a declaration of obedience and the psalm laments enemies’ disregard.
Matthew 21:13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”Both name conduct at odds with God’s words: enemies ignore them, and Jesus confronts misuse of the house of prayer.
Psalm 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?Both describe people disregarding God, whether by ignoring his words or harming his people without calling on him.
Matthew 22:29But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.Both concern failure to attend to God’s revelation, though Jesus names ignorance of Scripture and the psalm names disregard.
Matthew 21:16and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of children and nursing babies, you have …Both concern attention to Scripture, though Matthew records Jesus asking about a text rather than describing the weariness of zeal.
Matthew 15:4–6For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’The shared thread is God’s spoken instruction; Matthew names commands about parents, while the psalm leaves the ignored words unspecified.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. serving and tired. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Weariness does not erase the psalmist’s love for God’s words. The surrounding lines still confess that God is righteous and his statutes are trustworthy.
Now put it in your words.
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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).