Psalms 26

LORD, declare that I am in the right, because I have lived an honest life. I have also trusted the LORD, so I will not slip.

1Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.

Note"Judge me" in the King James is not an invitation to be condemned. It is a legal request: the speaker asks the LORD to hear his case and hand down a verdict in his favor, the way a wronged person asks a court to clear his name. The chapter keeps this courtroom setting throughout. "Slide" means to slip or lose one's footing, an image the psalm returns to in the last verse.

2Test me, LORD, and put me to the proof. Look closely at my deepest feelings and my thoughts.

2Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Note"Reins" is an old English word for the kidneys. Hebrew writers located a person's innermost feelings and impulses in the kidneys, and the will and thinking in the heart, so "my reins and my heart" means roughly what we mean by a person's feelings and thoughts together, the whole inner self, hidden from other people. The two words for testing come from metalworking: assaying a metal to find out whether it is genuine.

3I keep your faithful love in front of my eyes, and I have lived by your truth.

3For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.

Note"Lovingkindness" translates the Hebrew word hesed, which has no single English equivalent. It means the loyal, committed kindness owed within a lasting relationship, the sort of faithfulness that keeps its promises rather than a feeling of affection.

4I have not sat down with people who are false, and I will not spend time with people who pretend to be something they are not.

4I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.

Note"Vain" here does not mean conceited. It carries its older sense of empty or worthless, describing people whose word amounts to nothing. "Dissemblers" are people who conceal what they really are.

5I have hated the crowd of people who do evil, and I will not sit with the wicked.

5I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

6I will wash my hands to show I am innocent, and then I will walk around your altar, LORD,

6I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:

NoteWashing the hands was a public gesture, not hygiene: a person made the gesture in view of others to declare that his hands were clean of a particular crime. To "compass" the altar means to walk in procession around it. The altar was the raised structure in the sanctuary courtyard where sacrifices were offered; worshipers moving around it in a circle was part of a ceremony of thanksgiving.

7so that I can call out my thanks for all to hear and tell about all the wonderful things you have done.

7That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

8LORD, I have loved the house where you live, the place where your glory stays.

8LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

Note"The place where thine honour dwelleth" renders a Hebrew word, kabod, usually translated "glory": the visible weight and splendor of God's presence, understood to settle on the sanctuary. The verse is about a physical building, the tent, and later the temple, where that presence was held to reside.

9Do not sweep me away with sinners, or take my life along with murderers.

9Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:

Note"Gather" is an idiom for death. To be gathered was to be collected up with one's dead and laid alongside them, so the request is not to be swept off in the same fate that overtakes the guilty. "Bloody men" means men of bloodshed, killers, not men covered in blood.

10Their hands are full of evil plans, and their right hands are full of bribes.

10In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.

Note"Mischief" in the King James means serious harm or wicked scheming, not petty trouble-making. The "right hand" was the hand used for swearing oaths and striking agreements, so a right hand full of bribes points to justice being bought, most likely the bribing of judges and witnesses, which fits the trial setting of the psalm.

11But as for me, I will live an honest life. Set me free and treat me with mercy.

11But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.

NoteTo "redeem" was originally a transaction in family law: paying the price to buy back a relative who had fallen into slavery or debt, or to recover property that had been sold off. The word carries that sense of someone paying to get another person out of a situation they cannot escape alone.

12My feet stand on level ground. When the people gather, I will praise the LORD.

12My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.

Note"An even place" is level ground, firm, open footing where a person cannot stumble, the opposite of the slipping named in verse 1. "Congregations" means the assembled crowds of worshipers; the word is deliberately set against the "congregation of evil doers" in verse 5, the one gathering the speaker refuses and the other he joins.