Back to Psalms 119

Psalms 119:36

Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.

  • KJV King James Version

    Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

View more translations →

Cross-references (19)

Passages linked to Psalms 119:36 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Luke 12:15 He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
  • Hebrews 13:5 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
  • Mark 7:21-22 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
  • 1 Kings 8:58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
  • Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
  • Exodus 18:21 Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
  • Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
  • 2 Peter 2:3 In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
  • Psalms 10:3 For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh.
  • Ezekiel 11:19-20 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
  • 1 Timothy 6:17 Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;
  • 2 Peter 2:14 having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;
  • Psalms 141:4 Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
  • Ezekiel 33:31 They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
  • Jeremiah 32:39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good, and the good of their children after them.
  • Luke 16:14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
  • 1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
  • Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
  • Ephesians 5:3 But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

↑ Top

Explain this verse (15 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 36. Incline my heart In this verse he confesses…

36. Incline my heart In this verse he confesses the human heart to be so far from yielding to the justice of God, that it is more inclined to follow an opposite course. Were we naturally and spontaneously inclined to the righteousness of the law, there would be no occasion for the petition of the Psalmist, Incline my heart It remains, therefore, that our hearts are full of sinful thoughts, and wholly rebellious, until God by his grace change them. This confession on the part of the prophet must not be overlooked, That the natural corruption of man is so great, that he seeks for any thing rather than what is right, until he be turned by the power of God to new obedience, and thus begin to be inclined to that which is good.

In the second clause of the verse the prophet points to those impediments which prevent mankind from attaining to the desire of righteousness; their being inclined to covetousness. By a figure of speech, in which a part is put for the whole, the species is put for the genus. The Hebrew term, בצע batsang, signifies to use violence, or to covet, or to defraud; but covetousness is most in accordance with the spirit of the passage, provided we admit the prophet to have selected this species, “the root of all evils,” to demonstrate that nothing is more opposed to the righteousness of God, (1 Timothy 6:10). We are here instructed generally, that we are so much under the influence of perverse and vicious affections, our hearts abhor the study of God’s law, until God inspire us with the desire for that which is good.

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.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hereby meaning all other vices, because that covetousness is…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Unto thy testimonies; to the love and practice of…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Stablish thy word unto thy servant,.... Either God's word…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Covetousness - He mentions this in particular, because it…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 36. Not to covetousness.] Let me have no…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 119:36. Incline my heart, &c. — As the…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Incline my heart unto thy testimonies - Cause my…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 36. covetousness] Or, unjust gain. With this and the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (36) Covetousness.—Literally, rapine, prey. In Psa_30:9 simply, “gain.”
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. The writer recognizes…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. Does…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 119:36 The love for money can lead to sin…

↑ Top

Share