May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed. KAF
- KJV Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.
- NKJV Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes, That I may not be ashamed. כ Kaph
- NASB May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, So that I will not be ashamed. Kaph
- NLT May I be blameless in keeping your decrees; then I will never be ashamed. Kaph
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 his heart be blameless toward God's decrees so he will not be put to shame. True security comes from inward integrity before God's word.
Overview
Closing the YODH stanza, the psalmist prays not merely for outward obedience but for a heart wholly sound toward God's statutes. He knows that only sincere, undivided devotion guards against ultimate shame. This longing for a pure heart anticipates the new covenant promise that God writes His law on the heart and cleanses His people in Christ (Ezek. 36:26-27; Heb. 10:22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Deut 26:16The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and with all your soul.
- 1 Jn 2:28And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
- 2 Chr 12:14And Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.
- 2 Cor 1:12And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
- Ps 119:6Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.
- John 1:47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”
- Ps 32:2Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
- Prov 4:23Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
- 2 Chr 25:2And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.
- Ps 25:21May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.
- 2 Chr 31:20–21So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God.
- 2 Chr 15:17The high places were not removed from Israel, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted all his days.
- Ezek 11:9I will bring you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners, and I will execute judgments against you.
- Ps 25:2–3in You, my God, I trust. Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
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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 119:80 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.