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Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Psalms 119:104 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. NUN
  • BSB I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.
  • NKJV Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. נ Nun
  • NASB From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Nun
  • NLT Your commandments give me understanding; no wonder I hate every false way of life. Nun

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

Through God's precepts he gains understanding, and so he hates every false way. Knowing the truth produces hatred of falsehood.

Overview

Closing the MEM stanza, the psalmist explains that understanding gained from God's precepts leads him to reject every deceptive path. Love of the truth and hatred of error grow together. This discernment marks the mature believer who, grounded in the word, can distinguish truth from the lies of the world, as Christ is the way, truth, and life (John 14:6; Heb. 5:14).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Ps 119:128Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
  • Prov 8:13The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
  • Prov 14:12There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
  • Ps 97:10Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
  • Ps 119:98Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
  • Ps 101:3I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
  • Rom 12:9Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
  • Ps 119:100I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
  • Amos 5:15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
  • Matt 7:13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
  • Ps 36:4He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.
  • Ps 119:29–30Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 119:104YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 119:104 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.