Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed. KAF
- BSB May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.
- 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 26:16This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
- 1 Jn 2:28And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
- 2 Chr 12:14And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.
- 2 Cor 1:12For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
- Ps 119:6Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
- Ps 32:2Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
- Prov 4:23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
- 2 Chr 25:2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.
- Ps 25:21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
- 2 Chr 31:20–21And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God.
- 2 Chr 15:17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
- Ezek 11:9And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
- Ps 25:2–3O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph 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
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