The proud hold me in utter contempt, but I do not turn away from your instructions.
Parallel translations
- WEB The arrogant mock me excessively, but I don’t swerve from your law.
- KJV The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
- BSB The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn from Your law.
- NKJV The proud have me in great derision, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
- NASB The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your Law.
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
Though the arrogant mock him relentlessly, the psalmist does not turn from God's law. It matters because steadfast obedience holds firm even under sustained ridicule.
Overview
The proud heap derision on the psalmist, yet he refuses to swerve from God's law. Mockery tests but does not move his loyalty to Scripture. Such faithfulness under scorn mirrors Christ, who endured the contempt of sinners while remaining wholly devoted to His Father's word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 23:11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.
- Jer 20:7Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day. Every one mocks me.
- Ps 119:157Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven’t swerved from your testimonies.
- Ps 44:18Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path,
- Isa 42:4He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands will wait for his law.”
- Heb 12:1–3Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
- Isa 38:3and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.
- Luke 16:14–15The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
- Ps 119:69The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
- Ps 123:3–4Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.
- Acts 20:23–24except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
- Luke 23:35The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”
- Ps 119:31I cling to your statutes, Yahweh. Don’t let me be disappointed.
- Ps 119:21You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, who wander from your commandments.
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 119:51 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.