The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
- BSB Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my 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 ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
- Job 13:4But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
- Ps 119:157Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
- Ps 109:2–3For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
- Matt 26:59–68Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
- Acts 24:13Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
- Acts 24:5For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
- Ps 119:34Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
- Ps 119:58I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.
- Jas 1:8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
- Ps 119:51The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
- Matt 6:24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
- Ps 35:11False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
- Jer 43:2–3Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:
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 119:69 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.