May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, So that I will not be ashamed. Kaph
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.
- 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
- 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 26:16Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.
- 1 Jn 2:28Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
- 2 Chr 12:14He did that which was evil, because he didn’t set his heart to seek Yahweh.
- 2 Cor 1:12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
- Ps 119:6Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider all of your commandments.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
- Ps 32:2Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
- Prov 4:23Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- 2 Chr 25:2He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, but not with a perfect heart.
- Ps 25:21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
- 2 Chr 31:20–21Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah; and he did that which was good, right, and faithful before Yahweh 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 11:9“I will bring you out of the middle of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
- Ps 25:2–3My God, I have trusted in you. Don’t let me be shamed. Don’t let my 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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