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I hate and loathe falsehood, But I love Your Law.
Psalms 119:163 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB I hate and abhor falsehood. I love your law.
  • KJV I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
  • BSB I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law I love.
  • NKJV I hate and abhor lying, 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 consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate every false way. PEY
  • Rom 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
  • Prov 6:16–19There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:
  • Ps 119:29Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me your law graciously!
  • Amos 5:15Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
  • Eph 4:25Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
  • Prov 30:8Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
  • Ps 101:7He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.
  • Ps 119:113I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.
  • Rev 22:15Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

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 119:163YouTube · 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 119:163 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.