97
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For Your words are always with me.
99
I have better understanding and deeper insight than all my teachers [because of Your word],
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100
I understand more than the aged [who have not observed Your precepts],
Because I have observed and kept Your precepts.
101
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102
I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104
From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
106
I have sworn [an oath] and have confirmed it,
That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.
107
I am greatly afflicted;
Renew and revive me [giving me life], O Lord, according to Your word.
108
Accept and take pleasure in the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
And teach me Your ordinances.
109
My life is continually in my hand,
Yet I do not forget Your law.
110
The wicked have laid a snare for me,
Yet I do not wander from Your precepts.
111
I have taken Your testimonies as a heritage forever,
For they are the joy of my heart.
112
I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, even to the end.
113
I hate those who are double-minded,
But I love and treasure Your law.
114
You are my hiding place and my shield;
I wait for Your word.
115
Leave me, you evildoers,
That I may keep the commandments of my God [honoring and obeying them].
116
Uphold me according to Your word [of promise], so that I may live;
And do not let me be ashamed of my hope [in Your great goodness].
117
Uphold me that I may be safe,
That I may have regard for Your statutes continually.
118
You have turned Your back on all those who wander from Your statutes,
For their deceitfulness is useless.
119
You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross [for they have no value];
Therefore I love Your testimonies.
120
My flesh trembles in [reverent] fear of You,
And I am afraid and in awe of Your judgments.
121
I have done justice and righteousness;
Do not leave me to those who oppress me.
122
Be the guarantee for Your servant for good [as Judah was the guarantee for Benjamin];
Do not let the arrogant oppress me.
123
My eyes fail [with longing, watching] for [the fulfillment of] Your salvation,
And for [the fulfillment of] Your righteous word.
124
Deal with Your servant according to Your [gracious] lovingkindness,
And teach me Your statutes.
125
I am Your servant; give me understanding [the ability to learn and a teachable heart]
That I may know Your testimonies.
126
It is time for the Lord to act;
They have broken Your law.
127
Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold,
Yes, more than refined gold.
128
Therefore I esteem as right all Your precepts concerning everything;
I hate every false way.
129
Your testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore my soul keeps them.
130
The unfolding of Your [glorious] words give light;
Their unfolding gives understanding to the simple (childlike).
131
I opened my mouth and panted [with anticipation],
Because I longed for Your commandments.
132
Turn to me and be gracious to me and show me favor,
As is Your way to those who love Your name.
133
Establish my footsteps in [the way of] Your word;
Do not let any human weakness have power over me [causing me to be separated from You].
134
Redeem me from the oppression of man;
That I may keep Your precepts.
135
Make Your face shine [with pleasure] upon Your servant,
And teach me Your statutes.
136
My eyes weep streams of water
Because people do not keep Your law.
1 When Jesus had spoken these things, He raised His eyes to heaven [in prayer] and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify You. 2 Just as You have given Him power and authority over all mankind, [now glorify Him] so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him [to be His—permanently and forever]. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true [supreme and sovereign] God, and [in the same manner know] Jesus [as the] Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You [down here] on the earth by completing the work that You gave Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory and majesty that I had with You before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested Your name [and revealed Your very self, Your real self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept and obeyed Your word. 7 Now [at last] they know [with confident assurance] that all You have given Me is from You [it is really and truly Yours]. 8 For the words which You gave Me I have given them; and they received and accepted them and truly understood [with confident assurance] that I came from You [from Your presence], and they believed [without any doubt] that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and [all things that are] Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; yet they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and protected them, and not one of them was lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to You; and I say these things [while I am still] in the world so that they may experience My joy made full and complete and perfect within them [filling their hearts with My delight]. 14 I have given to them Your word [the message You gave Me]; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world and do not belong to the world, just as I am not of the world and do not belong to it. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world. 19 For their sake I sanctify Myself [to do Your will], so that they also may be sanctified [set apart, dedicated, made holy] in [Your] truth.
20 “I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, 21 that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me.
22 I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know [without any doubt] that You sent Me, and [that You] have loved them, just as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given to Me [as Your gift to Me], may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 “O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has never acknowledged You [and the revelation of Your mercy], yet I have always known You; and these [believers] know [without any doubt] that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them [overwhelming their heart], and I [may be] in them.”