Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
Remove from me reproach and contempt - Hebrew, gal (H1540); 'roll away from me reproach'-namely, such as Israel bare from the pagan, so though God disowned them, when they were put under the power of the uncircumcised. The allusion is to Joshua 5:9, where, after the people had ceased to be uncircumcised, "the Lord said ... This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal" (i:e., rolling; the same Hebrew root as here). The renewal of circumcision practically announced that God then renewed the covenant with Israel.
For I have kept thy testimonies. "The proud ... err from thy commandments" (Psalms 119:21), and therefore "reproach" me for "keeping thy testimonies," and in "contempt" jeer Israel as disowned by God with all her
(i:e., the godly remnant's) keeping them. Do thou by "thy judgments" (Psalms 119:20) 'rebuke' (Psalms 119:21) them, and so roll away their "reproach" from me (Psalms 39:8). It concerns God's honour I to vindicate those who keep God's testimonies, lest they and others be discouraged from keeping of them.