Psalms 31:6

6 Thou hatest them that keep vanities superfluously. Forsooth I hoped in the Lord; (Thou hatest them who worship false gods, or useless idols. But I put my trust in the Lord;)

Psalms 31:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 31:6

I have hated them that regard lying vanities
Soothsaying and divination, as Aben Ezra and others think; made use of by kings, and generals of armies, to know when it was proper to go out to war, and what success they should have; see ( Ezekiel 21:21-23 ) ( Hosea 4:10 ) ; but such men and their practices David abhorred; he took no such methods when in distress, but applied to the Lord, and trusted in him; or rather idol gods, as Jarchi, and others, who are vanity, and the work of errors, and are nothing in the world; see ( Jonah 2:8 ) ; all will worship and superstition may be included in this phrase, which being not according to the will and word of God, is worshipping in vain, and carries off from true spiritual worship; and so is a lying vanity, and to be detested, and the abettors of it: as also all errors and heresies; these are great swelling words of vanity, and are lies in hypocrisy; and likewise all immorality and wickedness, which spring from the vanity of the mind, and promise much liberty and pleasure, but deceive, and therefore lying; yea, all worldly enjoyments are vanity and vexation of spirit, and are fallacious and deceitful when trusted in; and indeed every false trust and confidence may come under this name; such as trust in riches, in wisdom and knowledge, in carnal descent, and privileges, in a moral and legal righteousness, and even in a bare profession of true religion, and a subjection to Gospel ordinances; for there is no true object of trust, no Redeemer and Saviour, but the Lord: now such as regard those lying vanities are they that look to them, love them, embrace them, and put their confidence in them; and such are to be "hated"; not their persons, but their principles and practices, and they themselves are to be shunned and abstained from;

but I trust in the Lord;
the God of truth, that cannot lie, deny himself, nor deceive; who is unchangeable, and without any variableness, or shadow of turning.

Psalms 31:6 In-Context

4 Thou shalt lead me out of the snare, which they hid to me (which they have hid for me); for thou art my defender.
5 I betake my spirit into thine hands; Lord God of truth, thou hast again-bought me. (I commit, or I entrust, my spirit into thy hands; Lord God of truth, thou hast redeemed me.)
6 Thou hatest them that keep vanities superfluously. Forsooth I hoped in the Lord; (Thou hatest them who worship false gods, or useless idols. But I put my trust in the Lord;)
7 I shall have fully joy, and shall be glad in thy mercy. For thou beheldest my meekness; thou savedest my life from needs. (I shall have full out joy, or rejoice, and shall be glad for thy love. For thou hast beheld my troubles; thou hast saved my life from dis-eases, or distress.)
8 And thou closedest not me (al)together within the hands of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a large place. (And thou enclosedest me not in the hands of the enemy; thou hast set me free in a large place.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.