Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let the proud be disappointed, for they have overthrown me wrongfully. I will meditate on your precepts.
- BSB May the arrogant be put to shame for subverting me with a lie; I will meditate on Your 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 119:23Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
- 1 Pet 2:20For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
- Ps 25:3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
- John 15:25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
- Ps 119:51The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
- 1 Sam 26:18And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand?
- Ps 35:26Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
- Ps 69:4They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
- Ps 7:3–5O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
- Ps 1:2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
- 1 Sam 24:17And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
- Ps 119:21Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
- 1 Sam 24:10–12Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’s anointed.
- Ps 119:85–86The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
- Ps 109:3They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
- Jer 50:32And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
- Ps 35:7For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged 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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