Synonyms for the righteous truth of Scripture in Psalm 119 as defined by the 1828 Noah Webster dictionary:
Law
“In general, law is a rule of action prescribed for the government of rational beings or moral agents, to which rule they are bound to yield obedience, in default of which they are exposed to punishment.”
Gen. 26:5; Exodus 12:49, 13:9, 16:4
Word
“The Scripture;
divine revelation,
or any part of it. This is called the word of God.”
Genesis 15:1-6
Testimonies
“A solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact.” Exodus 16:34; Deut. 4:45
Judgments
Just sentencing, and pronouncements. The ordinances of God which reveal His justice in dealing with mankind – (TWOT vol. 2 pg.949) Exodus 6:6, 21:1, 24.3
Way
“Method or plan of life and conduct” Genesis 18:19
Precepts
“any commandment or order intended as an authoritative rule of action; but applied particularly to commands respecting moral conduct. The ten commandments are so many precepts for the regulation of our moral conduct.”
Isaiah 28:10-13; Nehemiah 9:14
Statutes
An ordinance, a limit, something prescribed,
or due, a prescribed task,
limit, or boundary.
Genesis 26:5
Commandments
“A mandate; an order or injunction given by authority; charge; precept.
Genesis 26:5; Exodus 15:26
Adam Clarke’s Definitions
1. THE LAW, TORAH, from yarah, to direct, guide, teach, make straight, or even, point forward; because it guides, directs, and instructs in the way of righteousness; makes our path straight, shows what is even and right, and points us onward to peace, truth, and happiness. It is even our school-master to bring us to Christ, that we may be justified through faith; and by it is the knowledge of sin.
II. STATUTES, CHUKKIM, from chak, to mark, trace out, describe, and ordain; because they mark out our way describe the line of conduct we are to pursue and order or ordain what we are to observe.
III. PRECEPTS, PIKKUDIM, from pakad, to take notice or care of a thing, to attend, have respect to, to appoint, to visit; because they take notice of our way, have respect to the whole of our life and conversation, superintend, overlook, and visit us in all the concerns and duties of life.
IV. COMMANDMENTS, MITSVOTH, from tasvah to command, order, ordain; because they show us what we should do, and what we should leave undone, and exact our obedience.
V. TESTIMONIES, EDOTH, from ad, denoting beyond, farther, all along, to bear witness, or testimony. The rites and ceremonies of the law; because they point out matters beyond themselves, being types and representations of the good things that were to come.
VI. JUDGMENTS, MISHPATIM, from shaphat, to judge, determine, regulate, order, and discern, because they judge concerning our words and works; show the rules by which they should be regulated; and cause us to discern what is right and wrong, and decide accordingly.
VII. TRUTH, EMUNAH, to make steady, constant, to settle, trust, believe. The law that is established steady, confirmed, and ordered in all things, and sure; which should be believed on the authority of God, and trusted to as an infallible testimony from Him who cannot lie nor deceive.
VIII. WORD, dabar, from the same root, to discourse, utter one’s sentiments, speak consecutively and intelligibly; in which it appears to differ from llm malal, to utter articulate sounds. Any prophecy or immediate communication from heaven, as well as the whole body of Divine revelation, is emphatically called hwhy rbd debar Yehovah, the word of Jehovah. On the same ground we call the whole Old and New Testament THE WORD OF THE LORD, as we term the volume in which they are contained THE BIBLE-THE BOOK. In his revelation God speaks to man; shows him, in a clear, concise, intelligible, and rational way, his interest, his duty, his privileges; and, in a word, the reasonable service that he requires of him.
IX. WAY, DERECH, from the same root, to proceed, go on, walk, tread. The way in which God goes in order to instruct and save man; the way in which man must tread in order to be safe, holy, and happy. God’s manner of acting or proceeding in providence and grace; and the way that man should take in order to answer the end of his creation and redemption.
X. RIGHTEOUSNESS, TSEDAKAH from tsadak, to do justice, to give full weight. That which teaches a man to give to all their due; to give GOD his due, MAN his due, and HIMSELF his due; for every man has duties to God, his neighbor, and himself, to perform. This word is applied to God’s judgments, testimonies, and commandments; they are all righteous, give to all their due, and require what is due from every one.”
Matthew Henry’s Comments
“The general scope and design of it is to magnify the law, and make it honourable; to set forth the excellency and usefulness of divine revelation, and to recommend it to us, not only for the entertainment, but for the government, of ourselves, by the psalmist’s own example, who speaks by experience of the benefit of it, and of the good impressions made upon him by it, for which he praises God, and earnestly prays, from first to last, for the continuance of God’s grace with him, to direct and quicken him in the way of his duty. There are ten different words by which divine revelation is called in this psalm, and they are synonymous, each of them expressive of the whole compass of it (both that which tells us what God expects from us and that which tells us that we may expect from him) and of the system of religion which is founded upon it and guided by it. The things contained in the scripture, and drawn from it, are here called,
1. God’s law, because they are enacted by him as our Sovereign.
2. His way, because they are the rule both of his providence and of our obedience.
3. His testimonies, because they are solemnly declared to the world and attested beyond contradiction.
4. His commandments, because given with authority, and (as the word signifies) lodged with us as a trust.
5. His precepts, because prescribed to us and not left indifferent.
6. His word, or saying, because it is the declaration of his mind, and Christ, the essential eternal Word, is all in all in it.
7. His judgments, because framed in infinite wisdom, and because by them we must both judge and be judged.
8. His righteousness, because it is all holy, just, and good, and the rule and standard of righteousness.
9. His statutes, because they are fixed and determined, and of perpetual obligation.
10. His truth, or faithfulness, because the principles upon which the divine law is built are eternal truths.”
