May the arrogant be put to shame for subverting me with a lie; I will meditate on Your precepts.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let the proud be disappointed, for they have overthrown me wrongfully. I will meditate on your precepts.
- KJV Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
- NKJV Let the proud be ashamed, For they treated me wrongfully with falsehood; But I will meditate on Your precepts.
- NASB May the arrogant be put to shame, because they lead me astray with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts.
- NLT Bring disgrace upon the arrogant people who lied about me; meanwhile, I will concentrate on your commandments.
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 asks that the arrogant who wronged him be put to shame, while he himself responds by meditating on God's precepts. He answers persecution with prayer and the word, not retaliation.
Overview
Wronged by the proud, the psalmist commits his cause to God for vindication rather than taking vengeance himself. His own response is to fix his mind on God's precepts, finding stability in the word amid injustice. This pattern of entrusting oneself to God who judges righteously is fulfilled in Christ, who when reviled did not revile in return (1 Pet. 2:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 119:23Though rulers sit and slander me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
- 1 Pet 2:20How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
- Ps 25:3Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame; but those who are faithless without cause will be disgraced.
- John 15:25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
- Ps 119:51The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn from Your law.
- 1 Sam 26:18And he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?
- Ps 35:26May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.
- Ps 69:4Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
- Ps 7:3–5O LORD my God, if I have done this, if injustice is on my hands,
- Ps 1:2But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.
- 1 Sam 24:17and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.
- Ps 119:21You rebuke the arrogant—the cursed who stray from Your commandments.
- 1 Sam 24:10–12Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’
- Ps 119:85–86The arrogant have dug pits for me in violation of Your law.
- Ps 109:3They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.
- Jer 50:32The arrogant one will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities to consume all those around him.”
- Ps 35:7For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
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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 119:78 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
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