And I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
- KJV I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
- NKJV I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
- NASB I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my wrongdoing.
- NLT I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin.
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
David was blameless before God and kept himself from his own iniquity. It matters because integrity involves guarding against the sin to which one is prone.
Overview
David claims to have been blameless toward God, keeping himself from his particular iniquity. This describes sincere integrity and watchfulness against besetting sin, not sinless perfection. Full and final blamelessness belongs to Christ alone, who keeps and perfects his people for the day of his appearing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 18:8–9If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.
- Matt 5:29–30If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
- Ps 37:27Turn away from evil and do good, so that you will abide forever.
- 1 Sam 26:23May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
- Ps 11:7For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
- 1 Chr 29:17I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.
- Ps 17:3You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.
- Ps 7:1–8A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. O LORD my God, I take refuge in You; save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:23 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.