I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law I love.
Parallel translations
- WEB I hate and abhor falsehood. I love your law.
- KJV I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
- NKJV I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law.
- NASB I hate and loathe falsehood, But I love Your Law.
- NLT I hate and abhor all falsehood, 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 and abhors falsehood but loves God's law. Love for God's truth carries a corresponding hatred of lies.
Overview
The psalmist sets his deep love for God's law against an equally strong loathing of falsehood. To love the truth is necessarily to reject what opposes it; the two affections are inseparable. This reflects Christ, who is the Truth and in whom there was no deceit, and who frees His people to love truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 119:128Therefore I admire all Your precepts and hate every false way.
- Rom 12:9Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
- Prov 6:16–19There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:
- Ps 119:29Remove me from the path of deceit and graciously grant me Your law.
- Amos 5:15Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
- Eph 4:25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
- Prov 30:8Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.
- Ps 101:7No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who tells lies shall stand in my presence.
- Ps 119:113The double-minded I despise, but Your law I love.
- Rev 22:15But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
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 119:163 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.