Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.
Parallel translations
- WEB You reject all those who stray from your statutes, for their deceit is in vain.
- BSB You reject all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceitfulness is in vain.
- NKJV You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, For their deceit is falsehood.
- NASB You have rejected all those who stray from Your statutes, For their deceitfulness is useless.
- NLT But you have rejected all who stray from your decrees. They are only fooling themselves.
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
God rejects all who stray from His statutes, for their deceit is futile. Departing from the word leads to ruin, however cleverly disguised.
Overview
The psalmist observes that God spurns those who wander from His statutes, exposing their cunning as worthless. Human deceit cannot prevail against God's righteous judgment. This sober truth underscores that no scheme escapes God's notice, and that the way of the wicked perishes while the righteous, justified in Christ, stand secure (Ps. 1:6; Gal. 6:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 119:10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
- Ps 119:21Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
- Ps 119:29Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
- Isa 63:3I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
- 2 Tim 3:13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
- Rev 18:23And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
- Eph 5:6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
- Isa 44:20He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
- Eph 4:22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
- Ps 78:36–37Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
- Isa 25:10For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
- Mal 4:3And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Luke 21:24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
- 1 Jn 2:21I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
- Ps 78:57But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- Ps 95:10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
- 2 Th 2:9–11Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Rev 14:20And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 119:118 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.