Psalms Chapter 119 verse 9 Holy Bible
BETH. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed `thereto' according to thy word.
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<BETH> How may a young man make his way clean? by guiding it after your word.
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BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his path? by taking heed according to thy word.
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Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
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How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
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`Beth.' With what doth a young man purify his path? To observe -- according to Thy word.
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Psalms 119 : 9 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. - Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? It does not follow from this inquiry that the writer is a "young man" - rather the reverse. He is anxious to give advice to young men, which is naturally the part of one somewhat advanced in life. By taking heed thereto, according to thy Word. This is the answer to the question raised in clause 1. By looking to God's Word, and guiding himself thereby, the young man may "cleanse his way" - not otherwise.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersBETH.(9) Wherewithal.--There can be little question that the right rendering of this verse is By what means can a young man purify his way, so as to keep it according to Thy word? but from Joshua 6:18 we might render keep himself. The English rendering, which follows the LXX. and Vulg. is, of course, possible, but the other is more natural and more in accordance with the general drift of the psalm. The answer is supposed, or rather left to be inferred, from the whole tenor of the psalm, which is that men, and especially-young men, whose passions and temptations are strong in proportion to their inexperience, can do nothing of themselves, but are dependent on the grace of God. The omission of a direct answer rather strengthens than impairs the impression on the reader.We must not, from the mention of youth, conclude that this psalm was written in that period of life. Perhaps, on the contrary, it is one who, like Browning's Rabbi ben Ezra, while seeking how best to spend old age, looks back on youth, not with remonstrance at its follies, but with the satisfaction that even then he aimed at the best he knew.
