Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
- KJV The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
- NKJV The proud have forged a lie against me, But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
- NASB The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will comply with Your precepts.
- NLT Arrogant people smear me with lies, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart.
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 smear him with lies, the psalmist keeps God's precepts wholeheartedly. It matters because slander cannot deter the faithful from obeying God's word.
Overview
The proud forge falsehoods against the psalmist, yet he responds by keeping God's precepts with his whole heart. He refuses to let lies divert his devotion. This wholehearted faithfulness under false accusation mirrors Christ, against whom false witnesses spoke yet who remained perfectly obedient.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Matt 5:11–12Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
- Job 13:4You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.
- Ps 119:157Though my persecutors and foes are many, I have not turned from Your testimonies.
- Ps 109:2–3For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.
- Matt 26:59–68Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.
- Acts 24:13Nor can they prove to you any of their charges against me.
- Acts 24:5We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
- Ps 119:34Give me understanding that I may obey Your law, and follow it with all my heart.
- Ps 119:58I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise.
- Jas 1:8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- Ps 119:51The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn from Your law.
- Matt 6:24No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
- Ps 35:11Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
- Jer 43:2–3Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to reside there.’
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 119:69 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.