Psalms 101

I will sing about your faithful love and your justice. I will sing praise to you, LORD.

1I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

NoteThe psalm's heading attributes it to David, and the speaker throughout talks like a ruler: he decides who lives in his household, who serves him, and who is removed from the land and the city. Read as a king's pledge about how he will govern. "Faithful love" translates the Hebrew word *hesed*, loyal, committed care of the kind owed within a binding relationship; "justice" here means the giving of right decisions, the core duty of a king.

2I will give careful thought to the way of life that is blameless. When will you come to me? I will live inside my own house with a whole and honest heart.

2I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

Note"When will you come to me?" breaks into the sentence without warning, and the Hebrew is as abrupt as the English. It is usually read as a plea for God's presence, but its connection to the lines on either side is genuinely unclear, and translators do not agree. "Blameless" and "whole and honest" render a Hebrew word meaning complete or undivided, not sinless. "My house" is both a family home and, for a king, the royal household and court.

3I will not set anything worthless in front of my eyes. I hate what people do when they turn away from what is right; none of it will cling to me.

3I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "anything worthless" is literally "a thing of belial", belial meaning worthlessness or ruin. "Turn away" translates a word for swerving aside from a path, used of abandoning loyalty to God.

4A crooked heart will stay far from me. I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

4A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

Note"Crooked" renders a word for something twisted out of shape. The KJV's "I will not know a wicked person" uses "know" in its older sense of recognizing or associating with someone. The Hebrew can mean either an evil person or evil itself, and both readings are defensible.

5Whoever secretly says damaging things about his neighbor, I will silence. Anyone with a proud look and a proud heart I will not put up with.

5Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

Note"Silence" translates a Hebrew verb that can mean to destroy or to put an end to, so the threat is stronger than the English suggests. "A proud look" is literally "lofty of eyes," a stock phrase for looking down on other people.

6I will look with favor on the faithful people of the land, so that they may live with me. The person who lives a blameless life will serve me.

6Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

Note"Live with me" and "serve me" describe membership in the royal household: those he keeps at court and appoints as his officials. The word behind "serve" is used of attendants waiting on a king and of priests serving at the sanctuary.

7No one who practices deceit will live in my house. No one who tells lies will stay where I can see him.

7He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

Note"Stay where I can see him" is literally "be established before my eyes", to hold a settled position in the king's presence, that is, a place at court.

8Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked people of the land, so that I may remove every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

8I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

NoteKings in the ancient Near East heard legal cases in the morning, so "morning by morning" means routinely, as each day's court business comes up, rather than at dawn specifically. "Cut off" means removed from the community, by execution or by banishment. "The city of the LORD" is Jerusalem.