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Psalm 119:17
Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word.
15I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.
16I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. GIMEL
17Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word.
18Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.
19I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me.
Notice
The request for God’s goodness comes before the resolve to obey, joining the servant’s need for life with a desire to keep God’s word.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What good would you ask God to do for you in the words of this prayer?
Write on thisWhat would obedience to God’s word look like in the life you are asking him to sustain?
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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 13:6I will sing to the LORD, because he has been good to me.Psalm 119 asks God to do good to his servant; Psalm 13 answers goodness already received with a resolve to sing.
Psalm 119:65You have treated your servant well, according to your word, LORD.Both address God as his servant, linking his good treatment of that servant with his word.
Titus 2:11–12For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,The psalm asks for God’s goodness and life; Titus speaks of God’s grace appearing and bringing salvation.
Psalm 116:7Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.God’s generous treatment is requested in Psalm 119 and recalled as grounds for rest in Psalm 116.
Ephesians 2:4–5But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,The prayer appeals to God for goodness, while Ephesians describes God’s rich mercy and great love.
Psalm 142:7Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.Both prayers seek God’s good treatment so the speaker can respond to him, through obedience or thanksgiving.
1 Kings 3:6Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in …Both passages connect God’s kindness toward his servant with a life of obedience, with Solomon naming David’s truth and righteousness.
Ephesians 2:10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.Both connect God’s action with a life directed toward doing what he wants: keeping his word and walking in good works.
1 John 5:3–4For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.Keeping God’s word is the servant’s resolve in the psalm; keeping his commandments expresses love for God in John.
1 John 2:29If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.Both speak of conduct shaped by belonging to God, through the servant’s obedience and the righteousness practiced by those born of him.
2 Corinthians 9:7–11Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.The link is broad: one asks for God’s goodness, while the other describes giving that God loves.
Philippians 4:19My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.The servant asks God for the good that sustains life; Philippians expresses confidence that God will supply his people’s needs.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Your need for God’s help belongs in a prayer about obedience. The servant who resolves to keep God’s word first asks God to do him good.
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).