A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know nothing of evil.
Parallel translations
- WEB A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil.
- KJV A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.
- NKJV A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.
- NASB A perverse heart shall leave me; I will know no evil.
- NLT I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David puts away a perverse heart and refuses to know evil. He distances himself from all crookedness.
Overview
The king resolves to keep a crooked heart far from him and to have nothing to do with evil. Inner integrity governs his outward associations and conduct. Such purity of heart is what God desires and what Christ both embodies and works in His people (Matthew 5:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 11:20The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but the blameless in their walk are His delight.
- 2 Cor 6:14–16Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- Prov 9:6Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”
- Prov 8:13To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.
- Ps 119:115Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may obey the commandments of my God.
- Prov 22:24Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,
- Matt 7:23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
- 2 Tim 2:19Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
- Prov 3:32for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.
- Ps 6:8Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the LORD has heard my weeping.
- Prov 2:12–15to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,
- 2 Cor 11:33But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 101:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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