Psalms 119:9

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

ב(Bet) How can a young person maintain a pure life? By guarding it according to your instructions!

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

בַּמֶּ֣ה יְזַכֶּה־נַּ֭עַר אֶת־אָרְח֑וֹ לִ֝שְׁמֹ֗ר כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃

Transliteration

In-meh yəzakkeh-naʿar ʾet-ʾorḥô to-šəmōr according-to-diḇāreḵā

Grammar Details

• In-*meh*: preposition *bə* + interrogative - in what/whereby
• *yəzakkeh*: Piel imperfect 3rd person masculine singular - he cleanses/purifies
• *naʿar*: masculine singular noun - young man/youth
• *ʾet*-*ʾorḥô*: direct object marker + masculine singular noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his way
• to-*šəmōr*: preposition *lə* + Qal infinitive construct - to keep
• according-to-*diḇāreḵā*: preposition *kə* + masculine singular noun + 2nd person masculine singular suffix - according to your word

Word Meanings

• *meh*: what/how/whereby
• *yəzakkeh*: cleanse/purify/keep clean
• *naʿar*: young man/youth/boy/servant
• *ʾorḥô*: his way/path/journey/conduct
• *šəmōr*: keep/guard/observe/protect
• *diḇāreḵā*: your word/speech/matter/command

Referenced Verses

• Jas 1:21-25 : 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out– he will be blessed in what he does.
• 2 Tim 2:22 : 22 But keep away from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace, in company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
• Josh 1:7 : 7 Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do.
• Ps 25:7 : 7 Do not hold against me the sins of my youth or my rebellious acts! Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O LORD!
• Ps 34:11 : 11 Come children! Listen to me! I will teach you what it means to fear the LORD.
• 2 Tim 3:15-17 : 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.
• Titus 2:4-6 : 4 In this way they will train the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, fulfilling their duties at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message of God may not be discredited. 6 Encourage younger men likewise to be self-controlled,
• Eccl 11:9-12:1 : 9 Enjoy Life to the Fullest under the Fear of God Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. 10 Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting. 1 Fear God Now Because Old Age and Death Come Quickly So remember your Creator in the days of your youth– before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you will say,“I have no pleasure in them”;
• John 15:3 : 3 You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you.
• Job 13:26 : 26 For you write down bitter things against me and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth.
• Ps 119:11 : 11 In my heart I store up your words, so I might not sin against you.
• Ps 119:97-99 : 97 מ(Mem) O how I love your law! All day long I meditate on it. 98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for I am always aware of them. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your rules. 100 I am more discerning than those older than I, for I observe your precepts. 101 I stay away from every evil path, so that I might keep your instructions. 102 I do not turn aside from your regulations, for you teach me. 103 Your words are sweeter in my mouth than honey! 104 Your precepts give me discernment. Therefore I hate all deceitful actions. 105 נ(Nun) Your word is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path.
• Prov 1:4 : 4 To impart shrewdness to the morally naive, a discerning plan to the young person.
• Prov 1:10 : 10 Admonition to Avoid Easy but Unjust Riches My child, if sinners try to entice you, do not consent!
• Prov 4:1 : 1 Admonition to Follow Righteousness and Avoid Wickedness Listen, children, to a father’s instruction, and pay attention so that you may gain discernment.
• Prov 4:10-17 : 10 Listen, my child, and accept my words, so that the years of your life will be many. 11 I hereby guide you in the way of wisdom and I lead you in upright paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered, and when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; protect it, because it is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked or walk in the way of those who are evil. 15 Avoid it, do not go on it; turn away from it, and go on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; they are robbed of sleep until they make someone stumble. 17 Indeed they have eaten bread gained from wickedness and drink wine obtained from violence.
• Prov 5:7-9 : 7 So now, children, listen to me; do not turn aside from the words I speak. 8 Keep yourself far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, 9 lest you give your vigor to others and your years to a cruel person, 10 lest strangers devour your strength, and your labor benefit another man’s house. 11 And at the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are wasted away. 12 And you will say,“How I hated discipline! My heart spurned reproof! 13 For I did not obey my teachers and I did not heed my instructors. 14 I almost came to complete ruin in the midst of the whole congregation!” 15 Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well. 16 Should your springs be dispersed outside, your streams of water in the wide plazas? 17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. 18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife you married in your youth– 19 a loving doe, a graceful deer; may her breasts satisfy you at all times, may you be captivated by her love always. 20 But why should you be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of a different woman? 21 For the ways of a person are in front of the LORD’s eyes, and the LORD weighs all that person’s paths. 22 The wicked will be captured by his own iniquities, and he will be held by the cords of his own sin. 23 He will die because there was no discipline; because of the greatness of his folly he will reel.
• Prov 6:20-35 : 20 My child, guard the commands of your father and do not forsake the instruction of your mother. 21 Bind them on your heart continually; fasten them around your neck. 22 When you walk about, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you. 23 For the commandments are like a lamp, instruction is like a light, and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life, 24 by keeping you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the loose woman. 25 Do not lust in your heart for her beauty, and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; 26 for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life. 27 Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes? 28 Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? 29 So it is with the one who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife; no one who touches her will escape punishment. 30 People do not despise a thief when he steals to fulfill his need when he is hungry. 31 Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over, he might even have to give all the wealth of his house. 32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense, whoever does it destroys his own life. 33 He will be beaten and despised, and his reproach will not be wiped away; 34 for jealousy kindles a husband’s rage, and he will not show mercy when he takes revenge. 35 He will not consider any compensation; he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation.
• Prov 7:7 : 7 and I saw among the naive– I discerned among the youths– a young man who lacked sense.
• Ps 1:1-3 : 1 ¶ Book 1(Psalms 1-41) How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers! 2 Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the LORD’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by flowing streams; it yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he attempts.
• Ps 19:7-9 : 7 The law of the LORD is perfect and preserves one’s life. The rules set down by the LORD are reliable and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. 8 The LORD’s precepts are fair and make one joyful. The LORD’s commands are pure and give insight for life. 9 The commands to fear the LORD are right and endure forever. The judgments given by the LORD are trustworthy and absolutely just. 10 They are of greater value than gold, than even a great amount of pure gold; they bring greater delight than honey, than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb. 11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; those who obey them receive a rich reward.
• Ps 78:4-8 : 4 we will not hide from their descendants. We will tell the next generation about the LORD’s praiseworthy acts, about his strength and the amazing things he has done. 5 He established a rule in Jacob; he set up a law in Israel. He commanded our ancestors to make his deeds known to their descendants, 6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born, might know about them. They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. 7 Then they will place their confidence in God. They will not forget the works of God, and they will obey his commands. 8 Then they will not be like their ancestors, who were a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that was not committed and faithful to God.
• Deut 6:6-9 : 6 Exhortation to Teach the Covenant Principles These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 7 and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. 8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. 9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.
• Deut 17:18 : 18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests.
• Job 1:5 : 5 When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought,“Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice.
• Luke 15:13 : 13 After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle.
• 2 Chr 6:16 : 16 Now, O LORD God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said,‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.’