Psalms 119:85

85 The proud have dug pits for me, but they do not proceed according to thy law.

Psalms 119:85 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 119:85

The proud have digged pits for me
Laid snares and temptations in his way, to draw him into sin, and so into mischief; they sought indeed to take away his life, and formed schemes for it. The allusion is to the digging of pits for the taking of wild beasts; which shows the ill opinion they had of David, and their ill usage of him; see ( Psalms 7:15 ) ( 9:15 ) ;

which [are] not after thy law;
no, contrary to it; which forbids the digging of a pit, and leaving it uncovered, so that a neighbour's beast might fall into it, ( Exodus 21:33 Exodus 21:34 ) ; and if those might not be dug to the injury of beasts, then much less to the injury of men, to the hurt of the servants of the Lord, or to the shedding of innocent blood, which the law forbids.

Psalms 119:85 In-Context

83 For I am become like a wine skin in the smoke; yet I have not forgotten thy statutes.
84 How many are the days of thy slave? When wilt thou execute judgment on those that persecute me?
85 The proud have dug pits for me, but they do not proceed according to thy law.
86 All thy commandments are of the same truth; they persecute me wrongfully; help me.
87 They have almost consumed me upon earth, but I have not forsaken thy precepts.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010