PSALMS 119:173 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.”
God is asked to help, for the psalmist has chosen God's precepts. This verse expresses the fundamental integration of choice and petition: the psalmist has exercised human freedom to commit to God's law, and now appeals to God for the enabling grace required to maintain that commitment. The request for help acknowledges that chosen commitment requires divine support; human choice and divine empowerment are not contradictory but complementary. The deliberate choice of God's precepts grounds confidence that petition will be answered: one who has genuinely committed deserves divine assistance. This verse captures the ultimate paradox of covenant: humans choose God's law, yet maintaining that choice depends upon God's enabling grace. The final verses integrate all preceding themes.
Church Fathers on Psalms 119:173
1. From its commencement, dearly beloved, does this great Psalm exhort us unto bliss, which there is no one who desires not....And therefore this is the lesson which he teaches, who says, “Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord” Psalm 118:1. As much as to say, I know what you wish, you are seeking bliss: if then you would be blessed, be undefiled. For the former all desire, the latter fear: yet without it what all wish cannot be…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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