Psalms 119:88 (WEB)

Passage

Preserve my life according to your loving kindness, so I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

Nearby Context

Psalms 119:86 All of your commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me!

Psalms 119:87 They had almost wiped me from the earth, but I didn’t forsake your precepts.

Psalms 119:88 Preserve my life according to your loving kindness, so I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

Psalms 119:89 Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever.

Psalms 119:90 Your faithfulness is to all generations. You have established the earth, and it remains.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "preserve", "life", "loving", "kindness", "obey", "statutes", and "mouth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "preserve" and "life", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 87's "They had almost wiped me from the..." into verse 89's "Yahweh your word is settled in heaven...", so "preserve" and "life" belong inside that flow. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "preserve" and "life" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.