Psalms 119:117 Meaning and Explanation
“Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →There is a difference between asking God for rescue from a crisis and asking him for the daily bracing that keeps a person upright. Verse 117 asks for the second kind. It is the prayer of someone who has learned that falling is a live possibility and that ongoing help is what makes ongoing faithfulness possible.
Safety and obedience are joined in one request. The psalmist asks God to hold him up, expecting that continual support will free him to keep giving steady attention to God's statutes.
The Context of Psalms 119:117
This request comes in the Samech stanza, verses 113 through 120, where the psalmist speaks of God as hiding place and shield. Verse 116 has just asked to be upheld according to God's word so that he may live and never be ashamed of his hope. Verse 117 repeats that request with a different verb and adds a result. The verses following turn to God's dealings with those who stray from his statutes, and the stanza closes with the writer's flesh trembling in fear. Requests of this kind appear throughout Psalm 119, which is largely a sustained prayer.
What Does Psalms 119:117 Mean?
'Hold thou me up' places the emphasis firmly on God by adding 'thou.' The verb carries the sense of propping or sustaining, the way a stake supports a young tree or a meal sustains a traveler. What follows is a simple consequence: 'and I shall be safe.' Safety is treated as the effect of being held rather than as an independent achievement. The second half then extends the picture forward: 'I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.' Respect here means a steady looking toward, keeping something in view. The verse links being supported with staying attentive, and both are described as ongoing.
The stanza around this verse is honest about danger. Evildoers are told to depart, the proud are said to oppress, and those who err from God's statutes are trodden down. Within that setting the psalmist asks for support instead of asking for a life without threat. Psalm 119 works this way throughout. The writer never claims that keeping God's word has made him invulnerable. He claims that God's word and God's hand together keep him standing. The same logic runs through the Old Testament, where Israel's survival is credited to the LORD upholding them, and where the righteous fall and rise again because a hand steadies them.
Jude closes his short letter by praising the One who is able to keep believers from falling and to present them faultless with exceeding joy. That doxology says in New Testament words what Psalm 119:117 asks in Hebrew poetry. Jesus spoke in similar terms of keeping those the Father had given him. Being held is presented across Scripture as God's ordinary work rather than an emergency measure. The psalmist's expectation is therefore reasonable. He asks for support and then plans on a continual attentiveness that only makes sense if the support will still be there next year.
Psalms 119:117 in the Original Language
saad (סָעַד), 'hold up' -- to support, prop, or sustain, used of bracing something so it stands and of food that strengthens a person for a journey. The request pictures God as the one steadying a life that cannot stand on its own.
Bible Verses Related to Psalms 119:117
“Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.”
- Psalm 119:116
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”
- Jude 1:24
“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
- Psalm 37:24
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
- Isaiah 41:10
Where Psalms 119:117 Echoes in Scripture
Jude 1:24 praises God as the one able to keep his people from stumbling and to set them before his glory without fault. The prayer of Psalm 119:117 finds its answer described there. What the psalmist requests for a single day, Jude celebrates as something carried through to the end. Reading them together guards against two errors, one that treats standing as automatic and one that treats it as our own accomplishment. The psalmist asks, and the God who holds is glad to be asked.
How to Apply Psalms 119:117 Today
Many failures come after a long stretch of quiet self-reliance, when help stopped being requested because nothing seemed to be going wrong. This verse suggests building the request into ordinary days. A morning sentence asking God to hold us up costs nothing and changes posture. It also suggests that safety and attention travel together. When we are being upheld, we can afford to keep looking at God's statutes honestly, including the parts that expose us. Support makes examination bearable, and examination keeps us near the One doing the supporting.
Reflection & Prayer
In what area of your life have you quietly stopped asking for help because things seemed stable? A prayer: Lord, hold me up today. I have overestimated my footing before. Keep your statutes in front of my eyes, and let me lean on you long before I feel myself slipping. Amen.