Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Parallel Translations
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Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
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Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
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From Thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Psalms 119:104 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 119:128 Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate every false way.
- Proverbs 8:13 The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
- Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
- Psalms 97:10 You who love Yahweh, hate evil! He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
- Psalms 119:98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me.
- Psalms 101:3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
- Psalms 119:100 I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
- Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
- Matthew 7:13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.
- Psalms 36:4 He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.
- Psalms 119:29-30 Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me your law graciously! I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 104 By thy statutes I have acquired understanding The…
104 By thy statutes I have acquired understanding The prophet seems here to invert the order he has just now laid down. He observed that he had kept his feet from going astray, that he might observe God’s Law, and now he institutes a contrary order, beginning with the observance of the Law; for he declares that he had been taught by the word of God before he amended his faults. Yet these two things are not inconsistent, — that the faithful should withdraw themselves from their wanderings, in order to frame their life according to the rule of God’s word, and that when they are already advanced a considerable way in a holy life, the fear of God being then more vigorous in them, they should regard all vices with more intense hatred. The beginning of a good life, unquestionably, is when a man endeavors to purge himself from vices; and the more a man has made progress in a good life, he will burn with a, proportionate zeal in his detestation of vices and in shunning them. Moreover, we are taught by the words of the prophet, that the reason why men are so involved in falsehoods, and entangled in perverse errors, is, because they have not learned wisdom from the word of God. As the whole world are given to folly, those who wander astray plead in excuse, that it is difficult for them to guard against the allurements of vice. But the remedy will be near at hand, if we follow the counsel of the prophet; that is to say, if, instead of leaning on our own wisdom, we seek understanding from the word of God, in which he not only shows what is right:. but also fortifies our minds, and puts us on our guard against all the deceits of Satan, and all the impostures of the world. Would to God that, at the present day, this were thoroughly impressed on the minds of all who boast themselves of being Christians; for then they would not be continually driven about, as the greater part of them are, with such inconstancy, according to the conflicting impulses of prevailing opinions. As Satan is so sedulously exerting himself to spread abroad the mists of error, let us apply ourselves with the greater earnestness to the acquisition of this wisdom.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore…
Psa 119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Ver. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding] Those are the statutes of heaven; and as men, by studying the statute book, get worldly wisdom, so they may hereby get heavenly.
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Therefore I hate every false way] Whether in point of opinion or practice. I shall look upon Auxentius as a devil so long as he is an Arian, saith Hilary. And I would shun a heretic as I would do a devil, for he is sent on his errand, saith another.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Understanding; true, and useful and powerful knowledge.
Understanding; true, and useful and powerful knowledge.
Therefore; because that discovers to me, as the wickedness, so the folly and mischief of such practices.
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Every false way; every thing which is contrary to that rule of truth and right, all false doctrine and worship, and all sinful or vicious courses.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my…
Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth,
O Lord,.... Not sacrifices out of his flocks and herds, such as were the voluntary and freewill offerings brought to the priests under the law, though there may be an allusion to them; nor out of his substance, such as David and his people willingly offered towards the building of the temple; but these are not the freewill offerings of his hands, but of his mouth; the spiritual sacrifices of prayer praise: prayer is an offering; see Psa 141:2; and it is a freewill offering, when a man is assisted by the free Spirit of God, and can pour out his soul freely to the Lord, in the exercise of faith and love. Praise is an offering more pleasing to God than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs, because it glorifies him; and it is a freewill offering when it is of a man's own accord, comes from his heart; when he calls upon his soul, and all within him, to bless the Lord: and as every good man is desirous of having his sacrifices accepted with the Lord, so they are accepted by him when offered up through Christ, Pe1 2:5;
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and teach me thy judgments; for though he was wiser than his enemies, and had more understanding than his teachers, or than the ancients; yet needed to be instructed more and more, and was desirous of being taught of God. This petition, or what is similar to it, is often put up.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding] Spiritual…
Verse 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding] Spiritual knowledge increases while we tread in the path of obedience. Obedience is the grand means of growth and instruction. Obedience trades with the talent of grace, and thus grace becomes multiplied.
ANALYSIS OF LETTER MEM. - Thirteenth Division
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In this division we see, -
I. The affection of the psalmist to the law of God.
II. The great benefits he derived from it.
I. 1. "O how I love thy law." God alone knows how great that love is which I feel.
2. As true love always seeks opportunities of conversing with the beloved object, the psalmist shows his in meditation on God's law by day and night.
He gives us several encomiums on God's word: -
1. The wisdom he derived from it. It made him wiser than his enemies. It taught him how to conduct himself towards them, so as to disappoint many of their plans, and always insure his own peace.
2. It made him wiser than his teachers. Many, even of the Jewish teachers, took upon them to teach that to others which they had never learned themselves. He must have been wiser than these. Many in the present day take upon themselves the character of ministers of Jesus Christ, who have never felt his Gospel to be the power of God to their salvation. A simple woman, who is converted to God, and feels the witness of his Spirit that she is his child, has a thousand times more true wisdom than such persons, though they may have learned many languages and many sciences.
3. It made him wiser than the ancients - than any of the Jewish elders, who had not made that word the subject of their deep study and meditation.
A second enconium. God's word gives power over sin: "I have refrained:" and the psalmist was no speculatist; he was in every respect a practical man.
A third encomium is, the more a man resists evil forbidden by that law, and practices righteousness commanded by it, the stronger he grows. The psalmist refrained from every evil way, that he might keep God's word.
Lest any one should think that he pretends to have acquired all these excellencies by his own study and industry, he asserts that he had nothing but what he had received: "I have not departed," c. "for THOU hast taught me."
A fourth encomium is, that God's law gives indescribable happiness to them who love and obey it: "How sweet are thy words," c.
II. In the last verse he proves all that he said by the blessed effects of God's word upon himself.
1. He got understanding by it. He became learned, wise, and prudent.
2. He was enabled to hate every false way - false religion, lying vanities, empty pleasures and every thing that did not tend to and prepare for an eternity of blessedness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Through thy precepts I get understanding - A true…
Through thy precepts I get understanding - A true understanding; a correct view of things; a knowledge of thee, of myself, of the human character, of the destiny of man, of the way of salvation - the best, and the only essential knowledge for man. This knowledge the psalmist obtained from the “precepts” of God; that is, all that God had communicated by revelation. This passage expresses in few words what had been said more at length in Psa 119:98-100.
Therefore I hate every false way - I see that which is right and true, and I pursue it. In proportion as I have a just knowledge of truth and duty, I hate that which is false and evil.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 104. The study of God’s law gives him the…
104. The study of God’s law gives him the power of discernment to “prove the spirits,” and reject all false teaching and laxity of conduct. Cp. Psa_119:29; Psa_119:128.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Through thy precepts I get understanding (see the comment…
Through thy precepts I get understanding (see the comment on vers. 98 and 100). Therefore I hate every false way. A "false way" is one that leads to error and sin (comp. vers. 29 and 128).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding. God's…
Ver. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding. God's direction is our instruction. Obedience to the divine will begets wisdom of mind and action. As God's way is always best, those who follow it are sure to be justified by the result. If the Lawgiver were foolish his law would be the same, and obedience to such a law would involve us in a thousand mistakes; but as the reverse is the case, we may count ourselves happy to have such a wise, prudent, and beneficial law to be the rule of our lives. We are wise if we obey and we grow wise by obeying!
Therefore I hate every false way. Because he had understanding, and because of the divine precepts, he detested sin and falsehood. Every sin is a falsehood; we commit sin because we believe a lie, and in the end the flattering evil turns a liar to us and we find ourselves betrayed. True hearts are not indifferent about falsehood, they grow warm in indignation: as they love the truth, so they hate the lie. Saints have a universal horror of all that is untrue, they tolerate no falsehood or folly, they set their faces against all error of doctrine or wickedness of life. He who is a lover of one sin is in league with the whole army of sins; we must have neither truce nor parley with even one of these Amalekites, for the Lord hath war with them from generation to generation, and so must we. It is well to be a good hater. And what is that? A hater of no living being, but a hater of "every false way." The way of self will, of self righteousness, of worldliness, of pride, of unbelief, of hypocrisy, these are all false ways, and therefore not only to be shunned, but to be abhorred.
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This final verse of the strophe marks a great advance in character, and shows that the man of God is growing stronger, bolder, and happier than aforetime. He has been taught of the Lord, so that he discerns between the precious and the vile, and while he loves the truth fervently he hates falsehood intensely. May all of us reach this state of discrimination and determination, so that we may greatly glorify God.
Ver. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. In this sentence the prophet seems to invert the order set down in Ps 119:101. He had said, "I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word, "where the avoiding of evil is made the means of profiting by the word; here his profiting by the word is made the cause of avoiding evil. In the one verse you have an account of his beginning with God; in the other, of his progress. Thomas Manton.
Ver. 104. I hate every false way. David saith, "I hate every false way"; I hate not only the way when I have been misled into it, but I hate to go in it; and he professes at the Ps 119:163, "I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love." To abstain from and forbear lying is a sign of a gracious heart, much more to hate and abhor it. A godly man not only doth that which is good, but he delights to do it, his soul cleaves to it; he is in his clement when he is doing it, nothing comes more suitably to him than the business of his duty, he loveth to do it, yea, he loveth it when he cannot do it: Ro 7:22. Paul complained much that his corruptions clogged, hindered and shackled him; he was in lime twigs as to the doing of good, yet (saith he) "I delight in the law of God after the inward man"; that is, the inward man delightfully moves after the law of God, when I am basely moved by my corrupt heart, and stirred by temptation against it. Now, as a godly man not only chooseth to do the holy will of God, but delights and rejoiceth to do it, and hath sweet content in doing it; so likewise a godly man not only refuseth to do the will of the flesh, or to follow the course of the world, but hates to do it, and is never so discontented with himself as when through carelessness and neglect of his watch he hath been overtaken and hath fallen. A carnal man may forbear the doing of evil, and do what is materially good, but he never abhors what is evil, nor delights in what is good. Though he abstain from acting those things which God forbids, yet he doth not say, with Job, "God forbid, I should act them."...To delight in good is better than the doing of it, and to abhor evil is better than abstaining from it. And if we compare the nature of sin with the new nature of a godly man, we may see clear grounds why his abstinence from sin is joined with an abhorrence of it. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 104. Through thy; precepts I get understanding. Spiritual understanding is connected with the taste of spiritual sweetness. (Compare Pr 2:10-11.) "The sweetness of the lips" as the wise man observes "increaseth learning. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips." Pr 16:21, 23. Thus having learned "the principles of the doctrine of Christ, "we are encouraged to "go on to perfection" "growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ." For the connexion between "grace and knowledge" is clearly manifested. Charles Bridges.
Ver. 104. I hate every false way. Universality in this is a sure sign of sincerity. Herod spits out some sins, when he rolls others as sweet morsels in his mouth. A hypocrite ever leaves the devil some nest egg to sit upon, though he take many away. Some men will not buy some commodities, because they cannot have them at their own price, but they lay out the same money on others; so hypocrites forbear some sins, yea, are displeased at them; because they cannot have them without disgrace or disease, or some other disadvantage; but they lay out the same love upon other sins which will suit better with their designs. Some affirm that what the sea loseth in one place it gains in another; so what ground the corruption of the unconverted loseth one way, it gains another. There is in him some one lust especially which is his favourite; some king sin, like Agag, which must be spared when others are destroyed. "In this the Lord be merciful to thy servant, "saith Naaman. But now the regenerate laboureth to cleanse himself from all pollutions, both of flesh and spirit. 2Co 7:1. George Swinnock.
Ver. 104. I hate. The Scriptures place religion very much in the affection of love; love to God, and the Lord Jesus Christ; love to the people of God, and to mankind. The texts in which this is manifest, both in the Old Testament and the New, are innumerable. The contrary affection of hatred also, as having sin for its object, is spoken of in Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion. It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished. Pr 8:13. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Accordingly, the saints are called upon to give evidence of their sincerity by this, Ps 97:10. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." And the Psalmist often mentions it as an evidence of his sincerity: Ps 101:2-3, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside." So Ps 114:128, and the present place. Again, Ps 139:21: "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?" Jonathan Edwards.
Ver. 104. I hate. Hatred is a stabbing, murdering affection, it purposes sin with a hot heart to death, as an avenger of blood, that is to say, of the blood of the soul which sin would spill, and of the blood of Christ which sin hath shed. Hate sin perfectly and perpetually and then you will not spare it but kill it presently. Till sin be hated it cannot be mortified; you will not cry against it, as the Jews did against Christ, Crucify it! Crucify it! but shew indulgence to it as David did to Absalom and say, Deal gently with the young man, with this or that lust, for my sake. Mercy to sin is cruelty to the soul. Edward Reyner, 1600-1670.
Ver. 104. False way. It is not said, "evil way, "but "false way": or, as it is in the original, every path of lying and falsehood. Falsehood is either in point of opinion or practice. If you take it in the first sense, for falsehood in opinion, or error in judgment, or false doctrine, or false worship, this sentence holds good. Those that get understanding by the word are established against error, and not only established against error, or against the embracing or possession of it, but they hate it. Thomas Manton.
Ver. 104. False way. All sin is a lie. By it we attempt to cheat God. By it we actually cheat our souls: Pr 14:12. There is no delusion like the folly of believing that a course of sin will conduce to our happiness. William S. Plumer.
Ver. 104. The influence of the precepts.
1. Upon the understanding.
2. Upon the affections.
3. Upon the life.
Ver. 104.
1. The intellectual effect of the Scriptures: "I get understanding."
2. Their moral effect: "I hate, "etc. G.R.
Ver. 104. The understanding derived from God's precepts begets holy hatred.
1. To the false ways of conventional morality.
2. To the false ways of a formal religiousness.
3. To the false ways of an erring theology.
4. To the false ways of hypocritical practice.
5. To the false ways of sinful suggestions.
6. To the false ways of one's own deceitful heart. J.F.
Psalms 119:105*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.