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¶I hate those who are double-minded, But I love Your Law.
Psalms 119:113 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.
  • KJV I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
  • BSB The double-minded I despise, but Your law I love.
  • NKJV I hate the double-minded, But I love Your law.
  • NLT I hate those with divided loyalties, but I love your instructions.

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

He hates the double-minded but loves God's law. Wholehearted devotion to the word leaves no room for divided loyalty.

Overview

Opening the SAMEKH stanza, the psalmist contrasts his hatred of the half-hearted and wavering with his love for God's law. The double-minded are unstable in their commitment, while the psalmist treasures the word with singular devotion. James warns that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and Christ calls for undivided allegiance to God (James 1:8; Matt. 6:24).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Jas 1:8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
  • Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
  • Isa 55:7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
  • Ps 119:97How I love your law! It is my meditation all day.
  • 2 Cor 10:5throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
  • Mark 7:21For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
  • Ps 94:11Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
  • Ps 119:103How sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth!

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 119:113YouTube · 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 119:113 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.