Psalms 119:78

78 Let the godless be put to shame, because they have subverted me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on thy precepts.

Psalms 119:78 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 119:78

Let the proud be ashamed
The same persons he before speaks of as accursed, who had him in derision, and forged a lie against him. Here he prays that they might be ashamed of their scoffs and jeers, of their lies and calumnies, the evils and injuries they had done him; that they might be brought to a sense of them, and repentance for them; when they would be ashamed of them in the best manner: or that they might be disappointed of their ends, in what they had done, and so be confounded and ashamed, as men are when they cannot gain their point; or be brought to shame and confusion eternally;

for they dealt perversely with me without a cause;
or, "they perverted me [with] falsehood" F23; that is, they endeavoured to pervert him with lies and falsehood, and lead him out of the right way; or they attempted, by their lies and calumnies, to make him out to be a perverse and wicked man, and pronounced and condemned him as such, without any foundation or just cause for it;

[but] I will meditate in thy precepts;
he was determined, in the strength of grace, that those ill usages should not take off his thoughts from religious things, or divert him from his duty to his God: none of these things moved him; he still went on in the ways of God, in his worship and service, as Daniel did, when in like circumstances.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 (ynwtwe rqv) "mendacio me opprimere quaerunt", Tigurine version; "mendaciis", Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Psalms 119:78 In-Context

76 Let thy steadfast love be ready to comfort me according to thy promise to thy servant.
77 Let thy mercy come to me, that I may live; for thy law is my delight.
78 Let the godless be put to shame, because they have subverted me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on thy precepts.
79 Let those who fear thee turn to me, that they may know thy testimonies.
80 May my heart be blameless in thy statutes, that I may not be put to shame!
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.