Vv. 69 and 70 are a pair, setting forth the antithesis, frequent in the psalm, between evil men's conduct to the psalmist and his tranquil contemplation of, and delight in, God's precepts. False slanders buzz about him, but he cleaves to God's Law, and is conscious of innocence. Men are dull and insensible, as if their hearts were waterproofed with a layer of grease, through which no gentle rain from heaven could steal; but the psalmist is all the more led to open his heart to the gracious influences of that law, because others close theirs. If a bad man is not made worse by surrounding evil, he is made better by it. Just as in vv. 65 and 68 the same thought of God's goodness is expressed, ver. 71 repeats the thought of ver. 67, with a slight deepening. There the beneficent influence of sorrow was simply declared as a fact; here it is thankfully accepted, with full submission and consent of the will. "Good for me" means not only good in fact, but _in my estimate_. The repetition of the phrase at the beginning of the next verse throws light on its meaning in ver. 71. The singer thinks that he has two real goods, pre-eminent among the uniform sequence of such, and these are, first, his sorrows, which he reckons to be blessings, because they have helped him to a firmer grasp of the other, the real good for every man, the Law which is sacred and venerable, because it has come from the very lips of Deity. That is our true wealth. Happy they whose estimate of it corresponds to its real worth, and who have learned, by affliction or anyhow, that material riches are dross, compared with its solid preciousness! § י 73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, Give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments. 74 Let those who fear Thee see me and rejoice, For I have waited for Thy word. 75 I know, Jehovah, that Thy judgments are in righteousness, And that [in] faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me. 76 Oh let Thy lovingkindness be [sent] to comfort me, According to Thy promise to Thy servant. 77 Let Thy compassions come to me that I may live, For Thy law is my delight. 78 Let the proud be shamed, for they have lyingly dealt perversely with me; I, I meditate on Thy precepts. 79 Let those who fear Thee turn to me, And they shall know Thy testimonies. 80 Let my heart be sound in Thy statutes, That I be not shamed.