I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
Parallel translations
- WEB I hate and abhor falsehood. I love your law.
- BSB I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law 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 esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
- Rom 12:9Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
- Prov 6:16–19These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
- Ps 119:29Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
- 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.
- Eph 4:25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
- Prov 30:8Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
- Ps 101:7He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
- Ps 119:113I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
- Rev 22:15For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
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.