John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:137

"Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, And upright are thy judgments." — Psalms 119:137 (ASV)

O Jehovah! You are righteous. The Prophet yields to God the praise of righteousness and also acknowledges that it is to be found in His law. Some understand judgments as referring to those inflictions by which God chastises the sins of men, but this does not seem to agree so well with the scope of the passage.

Besides, as the adjective ישר , yashar, translated right, is used in the singular number with the word judgments, the sentence should be explained in this way: that there is no single one of God’s judgments which is not right. If we were inclined to take ישר as a substantive, the sense would be almost the same.

All men indeed grant that God is righteous; but the Prophet has expressed more than ordinary people, even more than the whole world, perceive regarding this subject; for in designating God righteous, He means, that as soon as we depart from Him, we will not find a particle of righteousness anywhere else.

When he adds that the evidence and testimony of this righteousness are to be seen in the law, he teaches us that God is robbed of His praise if we do not subscribe to all His commandments. To the same purpose is the following verse, which declares that God has taught in His law full and perfect righteousness and truth.

The adverb, מאד, meod, which signifies greatly, is more properly connected with the nouns than with the verb commanded; since it was God’s design to exhibit in the law a perfect rule of righteousness.

The doctrine of the law is honored with these encomiums, so that all of us may learn to derive wisdom from it, and that no one may devise for himself any other standard of rectitude or righteousness than that which is exhibited in the law. This is a very necessary lesson, since everyone would willingly frame for himself a new pattern or standard of righteousness.